n 

W 




I IP 



■III 



mmm 



SXBL 



Ji||i 

111111 



■ 

m 



mm 



IBHI 
■1111 







Jf§, 




J 



■■■:•.:.■:..••■•■•:: 
"■■■■"■ M '■ • 



111! 

I— 

Illi 



•:-!: : :! V: ;. :■■:.'- 






J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.] 

If 4- • ■ to $» 



J UNITED STATES OP AMERICA, f 













■ 

















• 



























I 
%« 1 1 

■ 

■ 





I 



OUT OF THE CLOUDS 



INTO THE LIGHT. 



SEVENTEEN DISCOURSES 



ON THE 

LEADING DOCTRINES OF THE DAY, 



IN THE 



LIGHT OF BIBLE CHRISTIANITY. 






BY THE LATE 






4r & 

REV. VM. METCALFE, M.D. N s&WtO^> / 



TOGETHER WITH A. 



MEMOIE OF T*HE AUTHOE, 

BY HIS SON, 

REV. JOSEPH METCALFE. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

187 2. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

THE TRUSTEES OF THE BIBLE-CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 




ex 

I 

"3 



Kind Reader, — A work like the one before you needs 
little preface. The memoir of its author, by his son, will 
introduce you to the man. 

In the sermons which follow, the man speaks for him- 
self of the truths to which he dedicated his life. 



CONTENTS. 



MEMOIR OF THE REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 

CHAPTEK I. 

PAGE 

Introduction — Birth and Early Education of Win. Metcalfe 
— Exemplary Youth — Literary Taste — Theological Studies 
— Adoption of a Vegetarian Diet — Marriage ... 9 

CHAPTER II. 

History of the Origin of the " Bible-Christian Church" — Mr. 
Metcalfe studies under Dr. Cowherd — Death of Dr. Cow- 
herd — Emigration to America of a Number of M Bible- 
Christians" with the Rev. William Metcalfe — Defection 
and Separation — Mr. Metcalfe opens an Academy — Organ- 
ization of the " Bible-Christian Church" in Philadelphia . 15 

CHAPTER III. 

Allurements in Poverty — Mr. Metcalfe as a Preacher — The 
Doctrines he presented — Opposition of the Clergy to his 
Preaching — His Reply and Challenge — No Response— Re- 
moval to Kensington ........ 21 

CHAPTER IY. 

The First Total- Abstinence Society and the First Tract on 
Entire Abstinence from all Intoxicating Liquors — The 

(v) 



vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Dietetic Keform — The Labors of Mr. Metcalfe in behalf 
of Vegetarianism — Mr. Metcalfe engages in Printing and 
Editing — Graduates as an M.D 31 

CHAPTEK V. 

Rebuilding and Dedication of the " Bible-Christian Church" 
— Correspondence with James Simpson, Esq., and Drs. 
Graham and Alcott — Formation of the American Vegeta- 
rian Society — Mr. Metcalfe's Visit to England — Death of 
Mrs. Metcalfe — The Organ of the Vegetarians — Mr. Met- 
calfe's Duties and Labors — Invitation to Revisit England 
as Pastor of the " Bible-Christian Church" — Marriage to 
Miss Cariss — Departure for England 36 

CHAPTER VI. 

Mr. Metcalfe in England — The Death of Joseph Brotherton, 
M.P. — Returns to his Church in Philadelphia — Death of 
Dr. William A. Alcott— Election of Rev. Dr. Metcalfe to 
the Presidency of the Vegetarian Society — Ordination of his 
Successor in the Ministry — Celebration of the Semi-Centen- 
nial Anniversary of his own Ordination — The Closing Days 
of his Life — Death— Remarks on his Life — The Funeral 
Sermon .......... 41 



CHAPTER VII. 

Description of a Tablet to the Memory of the Rev. William 
Metcalfe — Testimonials — Resolutions adopted by the " Bible- 
Christian Church" of Philadelphia — Letter of Condolence 
from Christ Church, Salford, England . . . .48 



Tribute of Respect . . ... . . .49 



CONTENTS. vii 



DISCOURSES. 



DISCOURSE 1. 

PAGE 

On the Being and Unity of God 53 

DISCOURSE II. 

On the Lord Jesus Christ .63 

DISCOURSE III. 

On the Trinity . 75 

DISCOURSE IV. 

The Bible a Divine Revelation 89 

« 

DISCOURSE V. 
On Creation 101 

DISCOURSE VI. 

On the Original State of Man . v 112 

DISCOURSE VII. 

On the Popular Doctrine of Original Sin .... 122 

DISCOURSE VIII. 

On the Garden of Eden and its Trees . . . . .133 

DISCOURSE IX. 

On the Forbidden Fruit, and the Tempter . . . .141 



viii CONTENTS. 



DISCOURSE X. 

PAGE 

Bible Testimony on Abstinence from the Flesh of Animals as 
Food . . . . . . . . . . .151 



DISCOURSE XI. 
On the Sacrifices of the Jews 184 

DISCOURSE XII. 
On the Ten Commandments 197 

DISCOURSE XIII. 

On the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Divine Nature 
of his Resurrection-Body 206 

DISCOURSE XIV. 

On the Passion of the Cross, or Salvation by the Blood of 
Christ 215 

DISCOURSE XY. 
On Faith . . . . 225 

DISCOURSE XVI. 

Sermon Delivered on the Fiftieth Anniversary of Ordination, 
August 11th, 1861 236 

DISCOURSE XVII. 

The Jubilee — Being a Historical Sketch of the Bible-Chris- 
tian Church— June 12th, 1859 247 



MEMOIR 



OF THE 



KEV. WILLIAM METCALFE 



CHAPTER I.. 



Introduction — Birth and Early Education of Wm. Metcalfe — Exemplary 
Youth — Literary Taste — Theological Studies — Adoption of a Vegetarian 
Diet — Marriage. 

A good man's life is a worthy subject 'of study. Besides 
furnishing an illustration of the powers and graces of 
honest virtue, it also assists to a knowledge of ourselves. 
Genius or talent alone may secure great distinction, but 
simple goodness will prove more powerful for human 
happiness than both combined. The conviction of this 
truth is growing upon the public mind; and it is hoped 
that these pages will aid in giving it strength. 

It is not claimed that the subject of this memoir was 
endowed with extraordinary mental powers, or that he had 
attained extensive notoriety in the world. The Rev. Wm. 
Metcalfe was simply a Christian minister, unpretending 
and unobtrusive in deportment. He was an honest, con- 
scientious, Religious Reformer; and it is his life and 
labors as such that this brief sketch is intended to exhibit. 
As his son, I sincerely and gratefully honor his character : 

2 (9) 



10 MEMOIR OF THE 

yet my purpose here is not to eulogize him, but only to 
furnish, in unadorned simplicity, the narrative of a well- 
spent life. 

The Rev. William Metcalfe was the son of Jonathan 
and Elizabeth Metcalfe. He was born at Sproadgill, in 
the parish of Orton, Westmoreland, England, March 11th, 
1788. His parents were in moderate circumstances, and 
contrived to give him a good classical education at the 
academy of Mr! Roberts, who was then celebrated as a 
philologist and the author of an English dictionary. 

At the age of nineteen, he left home, with the consent 
of his parents, to see what he could do in the world. He 
soon obtained employment, engaging himself as an ac- 
countant in an establishment near Keighley, Yorkshire. 
As he was entirely dependent upon his own exertions, and 
as he found his situation agreeable, he at once considered 
himself settled. , 

His course of life at this period furnishes an admirable 
example to youth generally, of the importance of starting 
in the world with a proper moral ideal. Doubtless he had 
all the ardent flow of animation which is common to youth ; 
he was inexperienced in the temptations of town life ; he 
was among strangers, and free from the restraints of im- 
mediate parental oversight ; but Providence seems to have 
early surrounded him with religiously-disposed associates, 
and he at once accepted the Christian influences, and thus 
secured himself in a great measure from the direct tempta- 
tions of evil society. He was a constant attendant of the 
church services on the Sabbath day, and at length attached 
himself to the " New Church 7 ' of Keighley, then under 
the pastorship of his subsequent father-in-law, the Rev. 
Joseph Wright. 

His leisure hours appear to have been occupied in lit- 
erary pursuits ; and the Muses came in for a share of his 



REV. WILLIAM f METCALFE. 11 

attentions. Born and educated- among the pastoral hills 
of Westmoreland, his poetical efforts were distinguished 
for their rural simplicity and amiability. In 1809 he paid, 
as he supposed, his farewell visit to his boyhood's home. 
The following lines, bearing date "Kendal, Sunday even- 
ing, May 21st, 1809," are a transcript of his feelings and 
his style at that time. They are headed 



ON LEAVING MY NATIVE PLACE. 

Farewell, good friends, companions, youthful mates ! 
May comfort smile within your cheering gates ! 
Farewell those hours that bless'd the youthful scene 
When mutual kindness echoed through the green ; 
When gambols, harmless as the tender dove, 
Endear'd our hearts, and oped the mind to love: 
My Brothers, Sisters, Parents, — all adieu ! 
What thanks can pay the debts I owe to you? 

Ye happy cots, where Peace untroubled lives, 

Where Heaven-made bounty each one's want relieves; 

Within whose doors all happiness I've known; 

In each one welcome, frown'd upon by none : 

Each guileless eye beam'd on my youthful face, 

And kindly hail'd me with an artless grace: 

Ah ! can I from such friends, such kindness, part 

Without the tribute of a grateful heart ? 

Peace, health, to all ! — and may your hearts receive 
That joy and kindness they so gladly give : — 
Whate'er my fortune in this world may be, 
Whate'er kind Providence may do for me, 
Whate'er my lot in life's uncertain scene, 
Still I'll remember what with you I've been : 
This look's my last, from off this well-known peak: 
My feelings dictate, but I cannot speak. 

His pastor, recognizing his talents, persuaded him to 
apply himself to the study of Theology, with a view to the 
ministry. He freely gave him his assistance, and sup- 



12 MEMOIR OF THE 

plied him with books. Next to the word of God itself, 
Sweclenborg became his favorite author. Mr. Metcalfe 
read all the works of the illuminated Scribe within his 
reach, with avidity and care ; and acknowledged that they 
supplied the most nourishing food to the understanding in 
the whole field of theological literature. Whilst he was 
ready to honor truth, come from what source it might, he 
considered Swedenborg a powerful uprooter of doctrinal 
errors and a good sower of Bible seeds. 

The Rev. Joseph Wright had carried on a correspond- 
ence for some years with the Rev. William Cowherd, at 
one time President of the '-New Church n Conference, and 
an ordaining minister of that body. In some of his letters, 
the Rev. Dr. Cowherd eloquently presented the doctrine of 
entire abstinence from all animal food and from all intoxi- 
cating drinks. He urged this abstinence as a healthful, 
moral, and religious duty. Mr. Metcalfe was favored with 
the perusal of those letters by his pastor, who had himself 
already yielded to the humane and Scriptural testimony 
adduced in regard to this discipline, although he did not 
make it a test of church-membership. Mr. Metcalfe exam- 
ined the whole subject with great care, reviewing all the 
evidences, scientific and Scriptural, and finally determined 
to test the system by a personal experiment. Accordingly, 
on the 1st of September, 1809, he gave up, at once and 
entirely, fish, flesh, and fowl as food, and every kind of 
intoxicating liquors as drink ; and so favorably impressed 
was he with his own experience that he never after even 
tasted the one or the other. 

Mr. William Metcalfe married Miss Susanna Wright, 
daughter of the Rev. Joseph Wright, on the 14th of Jan- 
uary, 1810. She was some years his senior in age, earnest 
in the advocacy of the system of diet he had adopted, and 
was possessed of a cultivated mind. 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 13 

It is not to be supposed that Mr. Metcalfe adopted a 
vegetarian life without meeting with the opposition of 
those whom he respected and loved. In a letter describing 
this period of his life, he gives the following historical tes- 
timony : — 

" My friends laughed at me, and entreated me to lay 
aside my foolish notions of a vegetable diet. They assured 
me I was rapidly sinking into a consumption, and tried 
various other methods to induce me to return to the cus- 
tomary dietetic habits of society ; bat their efforts proved 
ineffectual. Some predicted my death in three or four 
months ; and others, on hearing me attempt to defend my 
course, hesitated not to tell me I was certainly suffering 
from mental derangement, and, if I continued to live with- 
out flesh-food much longer, would unquestionably have to 
be shut up in some insane-asylum. All was unavailing. 
Instead of sinking into consumption, I gained several 
pounds in weight during the first few weeks of my experi- 
ment. Instead of three or four months bringing me to the 
silent grave, they brought me to the matrimonial altar. I 
dared even to get married ; and I am thankful to ' Our 
Father in heaven ' that my mental operations have, up to 
this day, been such that I have never even seen the in- 
terior of any insane-institution. 

" In my wife I found an invaluable helpmeet, — a bless- 
ing which all who enter the married state do not realize. 
She fully coincided with me in my views on vegetable 
diet, and, indeed, on all other important points, — was 
always ready to defend them to the best of her ability, — 
studied to show our acquaintances, whenever they paid us 
a visit, that we could live in every rational enjoyment 
without the use of flesh for food ; and, being an excellent 
cook, we were never at a loss 'for what we should eat, 
although we would not have meat.' We commenced 

2* 



14 MEMOIR OF THE 

housekeeping in January, 1810 ; and from that date to the 
present time we have never had a pound of flesh-meat in 
our dwelling, have never patronized* either slaughter- 
. houses or grog-shops. 

"When, again, in the course of time, we were about to 
be blessed with an addition to our family, a renewed effort 
was made. We were assured it was impossible for my 
wife to get through her confinement without some more 
strengthening food. Friends and physician were alike 
decided upon that point. We were, notwithstanding, un- 
moved, and faithful to our vegetarian principles. Next, 
we were told by our kind advisers that the little stranger 
could not be sufficiently nourished unless the mother 
would eat a little meat once a day, or, if not that, drink 
from half a pint to a pint of ale daily. To both proposals 
my wife turned a deaf ear; and, thanks to a Divine and 
Merciful Providence, both she and the child did exceed- 
ingly well." 

It may be proper to add here that the "little stranger," 
above referred to, is the author of this Memoir, that he is 
in the fifty-sixth year of his age,- that he has never so 
much as tasted animal food nor used intoxicating drinks 
of any kind, and that he is hale and hearty. 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 15 



CHAPTER II. 

History of the Origin of the "Bible-Christian Church "—Mr. Metcalfe 
studies under Dr. Cowherd — Death of Dr. Cowherd — Emigration to 
America of a Number of "Bible-Christians " with the Rev. William 
Metcalfe — Defection and Separation — Mr. Metcalfe opens an Academy 
— Organization of the "Bible-Christian Church" in Philadelphia. 

As raj father's future life is much interwoven with the 
succeeding history of the " Bible-Christian Church/' it 
may be satisfactory to our readers to give here a brief 
account of its origin. 

The Rev. Dr. Cowherd .was, unquestionably, the first, 
most earnest, practical advocate, in the present century, 
of those reforms now technically called Temperance, or 
Tee-totalism, and Vegetarianism. As early as 1807 he 
publicly taught them, as imperative duties, from his pul- 
pit. He labored to induce the clergy — especially those of 
the " Xew Church," or Swedenborgians — to acquaint 
themselves with the principles and testimony upon which 
they were advanced. But his zeal for these and some 
strictly theological views caused him, and those who coin- 
cided with him, to be treated with great coldness and in- 
difference by the leading ministers of that Church. They 
denounced him and his friends as being " restless and un- 
controllable," as " advocates of fanatical opinions," and 
as "not strictly adhering to the views of Swedenborg." 
The hope of a more tolerant spirit prevailing in the "New 
Church" counsels was feeble. Still, the Rev. Joseph 
Wright made an effort, by calling a Conference of the 
ministers and lay delegates of the "New Church," to be 



16 MEMOIR OF TUB 

held at the Rev. Dr. Cowherd's church, Salford, Manches- 
ter, June 29th, 1809. No other Conference of the " New- 
Church" was held that year; although the Conference of 
the year previous contemplated that one should be held 
in Manchester. Invitations were sent, and the Conference 
met. But the only ministers present were the Rev. Joseph 
Wright, of Keighley, the Rev. George Senior, of Dalton, 
near Huddersfield, the Rev. Samuel Dean, of Hulme, and 
the Rev. William Cowherd, of Salford, — both the latter 
churches representing Manchester. There were also a 
number of lay delegates from different parts of the king- 
dom. It was now evident that the u New Church " was 
not disposed to meet the issues. The Conference, how- 
ever, was duly organized, and remained in session four 
days. Its deliberations were conducted throughout in an 
orderly and devout manner. Every inquiry was consid- 
ered with candor, earnestness, and moderation, under a 
spirit of true Christian harmony and peace. It was 
unanimously agreed that the Bible, as the divinely in- 
spired record of the word of God, contains all the princi- 
ples and doctrines necessary to man's salvation, — that 
God was in Christ, and that beside Him there is no other 
God. He is, therefore, the only proper object of worship. 
Disclaiming any human being or creed as authority, and 
cordially accepting the Bible as the divinely inspired 
word, and Christ as their only God, the members of the 
Conference desired to be known only as "Bible-Chris- 
tians." Much interest prevailed throughout the session, 
and there was not one discordant heart or dissentient 
voice from first to last. Such, in brief, is the history 
which ultimated in the organization of the visible " Bible- 
Christian Church." 

Dr. Cowherd had instituted an Academy of Sciences at 
Salford, over which he presided, assisted by several other 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 17 

reverend gentlemen in the various departments. To this 
academy Mr. Metcalfe went as a student, designing to pre- 
pare himself for the ministry. When he had been there 
about a year, the Rev. Robert Hindmarsh withdrew from 
the classical department of the academy, and Dr. Cowherd 
immediately invited Mr. Metcalfe to assume the vacancy. 
This was in the early part of 1811. He accepted the offer, 
and continued in that position about two years. 

In the mean time, my father's home was in Addingham, 
Yorkshire. Here he had got together a small congrega- 
tion as early as 1810, to whom he dispensed the doctrines 
of Bible-Christianity on each successive Sabbath. At the 
solicitation of this congregation, Mr. Metcalfe was pre- 
sented, by its representative Mr. Jonathan Wright, as a 
candidate for the ministry, to the Rev. Dr. Cowherd. He 
was, accordingly, ordained by that reverend divine on 
Sunday, August 11th, 1811, in Christ Church, Salford. 

One of his church-members in Addingham erected a 
handsome church-building, in which was also a commo- 
dious school-room. This was placed at his service. He 
therefore left his position under Dr. Cowherd, and opened 
a grammar-school in the place prepared for him. Here he 
was much appreciated, both as a minister and a teacher, 
and the church and school were well sustained. 

Whilst engaged at Salford, my father had formed a de- 
sire to emigrate to America. Nor was he alone in this 
desire. In one of his letters to a friend, written shortly 
after his ordination, he says, "The civil and religious free- 
dom of the people of the United States has been the topic 
of many an hour's conversation among the teachers of the 
Salford Academv and the members of the church." He 
speaks also of Dr. Cowherd as an enthusiastic admirer of 
the free institutions of America. It appears that the then 
existing war between the two countries caused them to 



18 MEMOIR OF THE 

suppress their thoughts of removing : abandoned they 
were not, for on the restoration of peace the desire again 
became prominent. The arrangements for emigrating 
were, however, once more temporarily suspended, by the 
death of the Rev. Dr. Cowherd. This event took place 
on the 29th of March, 1816, and quite a gloom was cast 
upon all who had connected themselves with the " Bible- 
Christian Church, " by that bereavement. 

In the early part of the spring of 1817, a company of 
forty-one persons, all members of the " Bible-Christian 
Church," embarked from Liverpool for Philadelphia. 
This little community comprised two ministers, — the 
Rev. James Clark and the Rev. William Metcalfe, — with 
twenty other adults and nineteen children. After a tedi- 
ous voyage of eleven weeks, they all landed safely and in 
good health at the port of their destination, on the 15th 
of June. 

The crowning objects of these emigrants, as they pro- 
fessed, were the propagation of their peculiar religious 
doctrines and the establishment of the " Bible-Christian 
Church " in this highly favored land. But, alas ! how 
frail and fickle are human purposes ! Of the twenty-two 
adults and their families, eleven adults and seven children 
only were faithful when they reached Philadelphia. The 
strong salt breeze of the Atlantic, or some other cause, 
'dissolved not only their purposes, but their practical pre- 
cepts ; and at the first opportunity they gave way to indul- 
gences in eating and drinking those things which their 
principles had forbidden. Some of these might possibly 
have been reclaimed, had they been able to locate near 
their more faithful brethren. But all were poor, depend- 
ing for their daily bread upon their daily labor, and to 
obtain employment they were necessarily scattered far 
apart. Thus isolated from one another, in a strange 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 19 

country, and among a people who had no sympathy with 
their habits, but who advised them that "it would be im- 
possible to live in this hot climate without animal food," 
it is scarcely surprising that they relaxed their interest. 
Their heroism to principle failed them, and the " crown- 
ing objects " of their emigration, with them, at least, were 
abandoned. 

This apostasy was a source of great sorrow and mortifi- 
cation to the faithful. They too were widely separated. 
The Rev. James Clark and family, with two other fami- 
lies who were his personal friends as well as strict mem- 
bers of the Church, determined to locate themselves as 
farmers. Accordingly, they purchased some wild land in 
Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and removed thither. 
They formed a church and Sabbath-school ; but, not 
meeting with that encouragement from the surrounding 
neighborhood which Mr. Clark thought them worthy of 
receiving, he resolved to remove. Ardent in tempera- 
ment, he could not brook coldness and indifference in 
others. The following spring he went to Baltimore, 
leaving those who had devotedly followed his lead into 
the wilderness, still there. After much buffeting about, 
he finally settled as a farmer in the State of Indiana. 
Although he remained faithful to the principles of Bible- 
Christianity, he made no special effort to organize a 
church. The Rev. James Clark died, August 31, 1826, 
in the forty-seventh year of his age. 

The Rev. William Metcalfe remained in Philadelphia, 
intending, by the blessing of Providence, to support him- 
self and family by school-teaching. He bought out the 
good-will and fixtures from a teacher, and rented his 
dwelling and school-room, in the rear of No. 10 North 
Front street. In this arrangement he purposed also to 
fulfill his ministerial duties, by preaching on the Sabbath- 



20 MEMOIR OF THE - 

day, like the apostle of old, "in his own hired house," to 
as many as were willing to listen to his testimony. The 
meetings of the " Bible-Christian Church" were held in 
his own school-room ; and there were present at the first 
administration of the Holy Supper five adults, including 
the minister and his wife. 

The day-school was opened under the most flattering 
prospects, and my father's most sanguine expectations 
were more than realized. His academy was patronized 
by some of the wealthiest families of the city, and my 
mother's services were called into requisition by a class of 
young ladies. In purchasing the good-will and fixtures 
of the academy, only a portion of the money was to be 
paid at the time, — the balance having to be paid within 
the year. The rental for his house and school-room was 
considered, at that time, to be somewhat exorbitant; but 
he was enabled to meet all his engagements, and he began 
to think himself comfortably established. Just at this 
time, however, the yellow fever broke out in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of his residence, in the fall of 1818. 
His school was deserted by his pupils, and he was com- 
pelled to keep it closed, several weeks. Two or three of 
his pupils died with the plague ; and, on re-opening, so 
many of them had been placed in other schools, that for 
several weeks after he numbered only nine scholars. This 
visitation was not the end of his troubles.. The fever 
again appeared in the summer and fall of 1819, and yet 
again in 1820. My father was not prepared for these 
heavy drawbacks. He was in actual poverty and want. 
The proximity of his academy to this } r early contagious 
visitant rendered it unsafe to send pupils to him for in- 
struction, and he was entirely dependent upon his school 
for a livelihood. 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 21 



CHAPTER IIL 

Allurements in Poverty — Mr. Metcalfe as a Preacher — The Doctrines he 
presented — Opposition of the Clergy to his Preaching — His R,eply and 
Challenge — No Response — Removal to Kensington. 

Dark and lowering as were the affairs of Mr. Metcalfe 
at this time, he had nevertheless secured the friendship 
of many influential persons. But their solicitude for him 
only increased his troubles, and he might have exclaimed 
with propriety, even in his poverty, " Save me from my 
friends I" Offers of an alluring character were made to 
him ; but thev were so conditioned with obiectionable 
features that they aggravated, rather than ameliorated, 
his condition. It was urged upon him that if he would 
cease to present temperance and abstinence from flesh- 
food as religious duties, and renounce his scheme to build 
up the "Bible-Christian Church, " he would be certain of 
support. One offer was an academy, with a regular, com- 
fortable salary, under the patronage of a religious denomi- 
nation, located a few miles from the city; and another was 
the pastorship of an. established congregation, insuring 
him a respectable living, if he would conform to such 
stipulations. These and other offers somewhat similar 
were doubtless made from honest and benevolent motives. 
They were all, however, respectfully declined. In truth, 
they tended rather to increase his estimation of Bible- 
Christianity, and to make him labor even more earnestly 
in its vineyard. 

Now, it is not surprising that Mr. Metcalfe was ap- 

3 



22 MEMOIR OF THE 

proached in the manner just described. His talents would 
have been an invaluable help to any ordinary religious 
denomination, either as a preacher or teacher, if he could 
have cramped himself to the creed. At this time he was 
in the vigor of manhood, — just over thirty years of age, — 
tall and commanding in person, mild and sociable in man- 
ners. As a preacher, it is true, he was not what would 
be called an orator; but his delivery was easy, plain, dis- 
tinct, and impressive. His action was moderate and 
graceful. He was never boisterous, never sensational, 
and seldom allowed his imagination to. display.its powers 
in the pulpit. His sermons were suggestive and instruct- 
ive, always including some teaching on practical, every- 
day duties. He sought all fields for the illustration of 
Bible truths, especially availing himself of the lights of 
modern science and of ancient history in the elucidation 
of his subjects. Owing, perhaps, to the peculiarity of his 
religious views and his earnest desire to leave a clear im- 
pression on the minds of his hearers, his style of pulpit- 
speaking was that of a teacher more than that of a 
preacher. 

In this description of Mr. Metcalfe's preaching, I have 
limited myself to a simple statement of his personal ap- 
pearance and general style. However unadapted he 
might be for a reformer, he would most certainly have 
become a popular pastor, had he gone with a popular cur- 
rent. This he would not do, though tempted at a time 
when want and suffering were inmates of his dwelling 
and contagious disease surrounded his household. 

Under these peculiarly trying circumstances, Mr. Met- 
calfe industriously engaged himself in sowing the seeds 
of those moral and religious reforms the cultivation of 
which constituted the great work of his life. He adver- 
tised the Sabbath-day services held in his school-room in 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 23 

the newspapers and by cards. Respectable audiences 
were collected until the plague, — when, like his school, 
the church also became almost a vacant place. But even 
then he continued to preach, and added to his labors by 
availing himself of every social means, and also the news- 
paper-press, and tracts, to diffuse a knowledge of the doc- 
trines of Bible-Christianity. 

It is well known that the churches of that day were 
exceedingly tenacious of their traditional doctrines ; and 
preachers were expected to discourse with fervid zeal 
upon the necessity, of accepting their respective greeds in 
their most exact literal expressions. No latitude was 
allowed to rationalize any doctrine ; and the non-accept- 
ance of them in the strict meaning of their words was 
deemed to be rank infidelity. How far Mr. Metcalfe ran 
counter to these views may be better understood from the 
following abstract of his teachings, as enunciated by him 
at that time in a series of discourses. Of course, this 
statement must necessarily be very brief, and, consequently, 
very imperfect. 

1. The Bible, being written by divine inspiration, open 
vision, and audible dictation, contains a record of all truths 
necessary to man's salvation. To interpret it aright in 
its literal sense, a knowledge of the literature, customs, 
geography, arts, and philosophy of the Bible nations and 
times is of great value. Beyond its literal sense, there is 
providentially contained within it a revelation of divine 
and spiritual- truths. These have existed within it from 
the time it was first written, and have been successively 
developed under God, precisely when needed to re-estab- 
lish or re-edify the Church, — -just as the discoveries of 
new principles or powers in creation (which have always 
existed therein) were timed to the demands of the age in 
which they were made available. Thus, the writings and 



24 MEMOIR OF THE 

labors of St. Augustine, Fenelon, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, 
Swedenborg, Priestley, and others have been and are helps 
to devout religious minds, according to their various mental 
conditions. But, with all the aid of these saints, seers, 
and philosophers, it is not to be presumed that all of 
God's wisdom has yet been developed from the sacred 
pages of Revelation. According to the earnestness and 
need for further light/it will be manifested in greater and 
brighter glory forever. The Bible, therefore, is the only 
creed that a Scripture-founded Church ought to recognize 
or espouse. * 

2. This Church, having no creed but the Bible, does 
not constitute a sect or denomination, but simply a "Bible- 
Christian Church;" and its members claim to be in 
perfect union and connection with the sincere and con- 
scientious members of all the various denominations of 
professing Christians. This Church holds all the funda- 
mental doctrines, though not all the doctrinal opinions or 
views, of the different sects, so far as they are founded on 
the obvious truths of the Bible. Thus, the antagonistic 
doctrines of the unity and the trinity of God, the man- 
hood and the divinity of Christ, the predestination and 
freedom of man, the doctrine of faith and also that of 
works, with other doctrines, are presented in a light re- 
concilable to reason and harmonious to each other. 

3. God is One in essence and in person. "Whilst the 
Bible nowhere says that there are three Persons in the 
Godhead, it manifestly teaches that there is a threefold 
combination in Deity, corresponding to that which dis- 
tinguishes man, — namely, soul, body, and operative power. 
In the Bible there is a threefold combination evidently 
attributed to God, under the names of Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost. The Father is the Inmost or Essential 
Divine Spirit, which is infinite love; the Son is the Great 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 25 

Wisdom, or Word of God, effluxed by, and everywhere 
combining with, the Father; and the Holy Spirit is the 
Divine Proceeding or Emanating Energy and Power of 
God. 

4. " God was in Christ.' 7 The Lord "gave not his 
Spirit by measure to Jesus Christ," — " the Word made 
flesh/' — but dwelt in Him, in heaven, and in the universe 
at one and the same time, — One Undivided God. He 
assumed the spirit of man, which through sin had become 
partially separated from its appropriate degree of connec- 
tion with the Divine Spirit, so that he might meet the 
Powers of Darkness on their own plain, combat with 
them, and, by overcoming, redeem mankind to spiritual 

'freedom, and thereby enable the race to become reunited 
with the Great Omnipotent of heaven and earth. . 

5. Providence is the government of divine love and 
wisdom, and has for its end the salvation of man, and the 
formation of a heaven out of the human family. It is 
universal and particular ; and its laws are those of Ap- 
pointment and Permission. 

6. Man is endowed with Freedom of Will to choose 
good or evil. By virtue of this free will in spiritual 
things, he can be conjoined to the Lord, and the Lord to 
him. Thus, he has the capacity of being reformed, re- 
generated, and finally saved. 

7. At death, man puts off the material body, which, 
being no longer needful, is never again reassumed. " Flesh 
and blood cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." Man's 
spirit can never die : after death he rises in a spiritual 
body into the spiritual world, in which he continues to 
live forever, — in heaven, if he has lived a sincerely re- 
ligious and good life on earth ; or in hell, if his ruling 
thoughts, affections, and life have been evil. " Like asso- 
ciates w r ith like," of its own free will. 

3* 



26 MEMOIR OF THE 

8. The Second Advent, or coming of the Lord, is a 
coming, not in Person in the clouds of our atmosphere, 
but in the power and spirit of the Lord's own Divine 
Truth. It is now, and ever has been, coming to every 
willing mind that attains to the knowledge of Heavenly 
Truth. The world will never be destroyed. " One gen- 
eration passeth away, and another cometh ; but the earth 
abideth forever." 

9. Christian Discipline consists in obedience to the 
appointed or eternal laws of the Lord, as revealed in his 
Word and Works. These, unquestionably, enjoin worship 
and love to the Lord supremely ; honesty, truthfulness, 
and affection towards all men ; and purity of heart, under- 
standing, and life in the individual. Besides the ordinarv 
virtues of Christian professors, the appointed laws revealed 
in the Divine Word also require abstinence from the flesh 
of animals as food, from all intoxicating liquors as beverages, 
and from war, capital punishment, and slavery. 

10. The Religious Ceremonies of the " Bible-Christian 
Church" are two, — viz.: Baptism, by which persons are 
admitted to church-membership; and the Holy Supper, 
which, in the elements of bread and wine, symbolizes the 
preparation made by the Lord for the strengthening and 
refreshment of the souls of his people by his divine truth 
and love. Both these sacraments are open and free to 
all who desire to partake. The wine used in the Holy 
Supper is unfermented, and, consequently, unintoxicating. 
The observance of the Sabbath as a day of worship and 
religious instruction is enjoined, as is also family and 
private prayer. 

Such, in brief, were the doctrinal views and church- 
organization presented to the public of Philadelphia, 
nearly fifty years ago, by the Rev. William Metcalfe. 
Considering the rigid religious dogmas which prevailed 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 27 

at that time, it is not surprising that he met with a storm 
of opposition. A religious monthly, published by an 
Orthodox body in this city and edited by twelve of the 
leading clergymen of the country, considered it necessary, 
as they said, " to unmask" such an attempt to rationalize 
religious doctrines. In a leading article, after speaking 
of " wolves in sheep's clothing," the magazine says, — 

"These remarks are occasioned by the preaching of a man who pro- 
fessed to be a ' Bible-Christian/ and who under this disguise attacked the 
most plain and important doctrines of our holy religion." 

The article is too lengthy to republish here ; but it 
accuses the Bible-Christians with claiming their name 
from self-righteous motives: it attempts to prove the 
necessity for human creeds, and proclaims the doctrines 
of its Church, such as the tri-personality of God, the 
sacrifice of the Son for the atonement of the Father, 
faith in the imputation of Christ's righteousness, etc., as 
Scripture doctrines ; and concludes with the following 
nourish : 

"The design of these pretended reformers, notwithstanding their pro- 
fessions, is to impose their own creed upon mankind, and take away from 
ws the doctrines for which martyrs bled, — doctrines which possess exclu- 
sively the features of divine revelation, — doctrines which, while they 
present the divine government in awful purity and majesty, and stamp 
iniquity with deeper odium than the increasing weight of eternal per- 
dition ever could, exhibit at the same time, in the sacrifice of Him who is 
over all, God blessed forever, an atonement whose solidity, riches, and ex- 
cellence can be measured only by the unchangeable existence, unlimited 
fullness and dignity, of Him who dwells in light inaccessible and full of 
glory." 

To this article Mr. Metcalfe replied at length, in the 
"Freeman's Journal." After noticing the principal topics 
of a religious character, and answering them, he concludes 



28 MEMOIR OF THE 

by adverting to the uncharitable spirit betrayed in the 
article, saying, — 

**They ought to know that religious reformers in all ages of the world 
have been accused as men who 'turned the world upside-down/ as ene- 
mies to the 'traditions of the fathers/ and as authors of 'innovation.' 
Let them reflect that while they indulge themselves in calumniating th^ 
characters of men of whom they have no knowledge, and in declaiming 
against doctrines of the nature of which they are utterly ignorant, they 
are, in fact, betraying the weakness of their cause, and displaying to 
every one their want of Bible-Christian principles, which would induce 
them ' to do to others as they would have others do to them/ If they 
really wish information relative to the views and characters of Bible- 
Christians, let them attend their meetings, which are open to all; and we 
promise them a friendly welcome. If they are still dissatisfied, we invite 
them to a free and candid discussion. Truth cannot suffer by the closest 
investigation ; nor is its progress to be arrested either by the fulmina- 
tions of a body of priests or the pointless censures of an association of 
reverend reviewers." 



The challenge thus publicly given was never accepted, 
—the " Magazine" not even deigning to notice the r"eply 
or the Church. This was one mode of attack, varied by 
shorter articles in the daily newspapers. Other modes 
were resorted to, affecting him in his profession as a 
teacher, which were even less creditable to their authors. 
Even the unsubstantiated cry of " Skeptic I" and " Infidel!'? 
caused some to withdraw their patronage. A public 
charge always called forth a prompt rejoinder from Mr. 
Metcalfe ; the latter modes were too far beneath the con- 
sideration of sensible men for him to deem worthy of 
notice. 

Besides the labors of school-teaching, Mr. Metcalfe was 
employed, as editor of a monthly periodical, entitled "The 
Rural Magazine and Literary Evening Fireside" de- 
voted, as its title indicates, to agriculture and general lit- 
erature. It was published by his landlords, Messrs. R. & 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 29 

C. Johnson, No. 31 Market Street, but was discontinued 
at the close of 1820. 

On account of the repeated visits of the yellow fever to 
the neighborhood of our residence, my father removed, in 
the spring of 1821, to the northern suburb of the city, then 
called West Kensington. He continued his school for a 
time, however, in the central part of the city, — No. T Pear 
Street. In the mean time, my mother opened a school at 
our residence, which was numerously patronized, so that 
my father's aid was absolutely needed. Accordingly, he 
closed his school in the city, and took a building which 
had been erected purposely for a school-house in the neigh- 
borhood, and there opened his academy. From this time 
he was quite prospered in his avocation as a teacher. 

The Church now began to assume some proportions of 
size and strength. There had been an increase in its mem- 
bership, by the return of the two families that had gone 
out with the Rev. Mr. Clark, by emigrants from England, 
and by new converts. But great inconvenience was ex- 
perienced from the want of a permanent place of meeting. 
After the school-room in Pear Street was given up by my 
father, the Church was unlocalized, — sometimes meeting 
at a public hall, sometimes in an engine-house, sometimes 
in a school-room, and these widely distant from one 
another. The only remedy for this unstable condition 
was in the Church being itself the owner of a place of 
meeting. This it resolved to do, poor as were its mem- 
bers ; and on May 21st, 1823, the lot of ground was pur- 
chased on ground-rent which is now held in fee-simple by 
the Church, situated in North Third Street above Girard 
Avenue. A frame building, which had been used as a 
Lancasterian school, in Coates Street, was purchased and 
removed to the lot. It was rejuvenated with paint and 
other alterations, and fitted up in a plain and suitable 



30 MEMOIR OF THE 

style for the church-services. It was publicly opened and 
dedicated, by the Rev. William Metcalfe, to the worship 
of the Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour of men, on Sunday, 
December 21st of the same year. 

Connected with the Church in its migratory experiences 
was a Sunday-school, conducted and supported by the 
church-members. This also, with the Church, had at 
length found a resting-place and a home, although it was 
but an humble frame. The building, however, was in- 
dicative of the character of the congregation who gathered 
under its shelter, — plain, honest, and unostentatious. To 
secure even such a religious home within little more than 
six months from the time of the inception of the idea, de- 
manded from each individual member great personal de- 
votion, and evinces the fact that, though poor in worldly 
wealth, they were rich in heavenly zeal. Their pastor, 
like themselves, labored hard during the whole week, not 
alone for the support of his family, but also to collect a 
congregation and to be prepared to give instruction on the 
Sabbath-day in the truths of Bible-Christianity. And 
these truths, practically presented, necessarily came into 
deadly hostility to the popular sentiments and the per- 
verted appetites of the community around him : yet they 
were nevertheless religiously reverential and pure in doc- 
trine and in life. Shortly after the church had been opened, 
an organ was purchased ; and the younger members com- 
posing the choir were so earnest in their duties that the 
Church became somewhat noted for its superior musical 
talent. 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. • 31 



CHAPTER IV. 

The First Total-Abstinence Society and the First Tract on Entire Absti- 
nence from all Intoxicating Liquors — The Dietetic Reform — The Labors 
of Mr. Metcalfe in behalf of Vegetarianism — Mr. Metcalfe engages in 
Printing and Editing — Graduates as an M.D. 

During the years 1820 and 1821, a series of tracts, en- 
titled " Letters on Religious Subjects," was republished 
under the supervision of Mr. Metcalfe. They were ex- 
planatory of the leading doctrines of the ''Bible-Christian 
Church," and were mostly written by the Rev. Dr. Cow- 
herd. They were somewhat altered, so as to adapt them 
to the wants of the people of this country. 

It has already been stated that the " Bible-Christian 
Church," as early as 1809, taught and enforced the prin- 
ciple that abstinence from all intoxicating beverages is a 
necessary duty. So strictly was this principle carried out, 
that the wine used for sacramental purposes was expressly 
made in such a manner as to remain unfermented and, 
consequently, unintoxicating. Strictly speaking, there- 
fore, it was the first temperance society, based upon the 
total-abstinence principle, in modern times. Among the 
tracts published by Mr. Metcalfe at this period was one in 
regard to " The Duty of Abstinence from all Intoxicating 
Drinks." The vice of drinking intoxicating liquors in 
those days was one of the most common customs of society. 
In the transaction of business, in social gatherings of old 
or young, male or female, or miscellaneously mixed, — 
whether met for moral purposes or for mere pleasure, — to 
partake of this liquid poison was considered absolutely 
essential. Even the clergy were as much addicted to this 



32 MEMOIR OF THE 

habit as any other class or profession. The little band of 
Bible-Christians set their faces sternly against this com- 
mon custom, and zealously sowed the seeds of those tem- 
perance organizations which began to appear some ten or 
twelve years afterwards. The tract alluded to says, — 

" If this vice of intemperance is to be patronized, it is quite in vain to 
erect places of worship, or to expect any thing but disappointment in 
attempting to diffuse religious knowledge. There remains only one 
effectual Way of counteracting this evil, and that is, for all ministers of the 
gospel and all sineere reformers to strike at the root of the gigantic tree 
of intemperance, — not alone by preaching, but by setting an example of 
entire abstinence from this baneful liquor. In order to adopt any system, 
it is desirable to see the practicability of it. In this case it is quite easy. 
There only wants a beginning in the performance. The accursed bev- 
erages ought never to gain admittance to our dwellings, and, if possible, 
we should not even hear or see their names." 

This was the language, word for word ; and the tract 
sustained its position with sound reason and considerable 
learning. A large edition was printed and gratuitously 
distributed. It was, we believe, the First Total-Absti- 
nence Tract published in this country. When the principles 
of temperance became more operative in the community, 
Mr. Metcalfe freely contributed his aid and influence in 
the organization of societies and in the support of lec- 
turers. 

But he was early convinced that the Dietetic Reform 
would be of a much slower growth than that of temperance. 
The evil of drunkenness so openly manifests itself in the 
fearful blight which falls upon its victims, that but little 
effort was needed, he supposed, to call forth those who 
would see and proclaim its wickedness. But eating the 
flesh of animals — though really as criminal, as debasing, 
and as barbarous as that or any other known evil — does 
not manifest itself in the same heinousness outwardly : 
therefore its opponents, he was assured, would not be so 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 33 

numerous nor so popular. He was satisfied, however, 
that there is a desolation wrought in the soul by the sin 
of flesh-eating more fearful than any outward ghastliness, 
but which cannot be understood, because of the long and 
unlimited prevalence of the custom. Hence a constant and 
self-sacrificing devotion was needful on the part of those 
who were enlightened in the principles of Vegetarianism, 
to awaken the public mind to its enormity. Mr. Metcalfe 
gave his time, talent, and means, unstintedly, to present 
to the world this cause simply as a moral reform. In 
1821, he published a tract on the subject of " Abstinence 
from the Flesh of Animals," which was freely and exten- 
sively distributed. He resorted to the columns of the 
newspapers to excite public attention to the subject. Arti- 
cles were published in the " Saturday Evening Post," 
" The Philadelphia Gazette," "The American Sentinel," 
"The United States Gazette," and other papers, from his 
pen, at various intervals, to excite public attention to the 
consideration of this humane reform. He also instituted 
correspondence with any inquiring mind, upon the least 
appearance of interest in the principles which he had so 
deeply at heart. 

During the first ten or twelve years, his labors in this 
direction appear to have been entirely unproductive of any 
promising results. In 1830, Dr. Sylvester Graham was 
employed as a temperance-lecturer, and was introduced to 
some of the members of the " Bible-Christian Church." 
He was at this time earnestly studying human physiology, 
as furnishing testimony upon the subject which was the 
theme of his public lectures. He had arrived at some con- 
clusions in regard to the dietetic character of man, by this 
study. The mode of life adopted by his Bible-Christian 
friends was made known to him ; and this most probably 
caused him to make a more searching investigation as to 

4 



34 MEMOIR OF THE 

the scientific grounds for such a course, and finally led him 
to adopt its teachings and to become its champion. As 
soon as my father became aware of his position, he ad- 
dressed a letter of encouragement to him, and also one to 
Dr. William A. Alcott, who had likewise publicly declared 
his conviction that a vegetarian diet was the most proper 
for mankind. This correspondence with them was con- 
tinued through life, with much interest to all. The basis 
of the dietetic reform was freely discussed, and projects 
suggested for the propagation of its principles. In 1835, 
Dr. Alcott commenced the " Moral Reformer," a monthly 
periodical, which was afterwards 'substituted by the 
"Library of Health. 11 In 1838-39, the "Graham Jour- 
nal" was also published, in Boston, and physiological 
societies w r ere organized in several of the New England 
towns and in Philadelphia, principally among the Bible- 
Christians. The inquiry began to be agitated as to w The 
Bible Testimony on Abstinence, from the Flesh of Ani- 
mals ;" and a sermon with this title was preached and 
published by the Rev. William Metcalfe. It had an ex- 
tensive circulation throughout the United States, and was 
generously reviewed, pro and con, by the newspaper press 
generally. 

It would be almost impossible to enumerate all the 
varied projects in which Mr. Metcalfe engaged to promote 
the cause of Vegetarianism. Suffice it to say that, next 
to the Church, it had his most anxious thoughts and his 
most constant labor. 

But he was overtasking his strength by his close and 
constant application. School-teaching itself, at the time 
he was engaged in it, was a health-destroying profession. 
Then, the school-rooms -were generally low, ill-ventilated 
apartments ; and his was greatly crowded. During fully 
one-half the year he was employed with a day and an 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 35 

evening school, from eight o'clock in the morning until 
ten at night ; Saturday was devoted mainly to preparation 
for his Sunday duties 1 so that he had no time for relaxa- 
tion or bodily exercise. It is not surprising that he found 
his health failing, from his close confinement and labor in 
a vitiated atmosphere. 

After following the avocation of a school-teacher for 
more than twenty years, as a change, he engaged, in 1832, 
with the writer of this in the letter-press printing. We 
published a weekly newspaper, entitled " The Independent 
Democrat, 11 — my father being editor and pressman, It 
was political in its character, but a large portion of its 
space was devoted to moral and literary articles. In 
1838, a daily newspaper was printed at our office, called 
" The Morning Star. 11 The principal object of the pro- 
jectors of this paper was to secure the nomination and 
election of General Harrison to the Presidency of the 
United States ; and we were assured by many of the 
leading advocates throughout the country that the under- 
taking would be amply sustained. The patronage it had 
was not sufficient, and the promises of the politicians were 
not fulfilled. It finally ceased in 1841, and we were in- 
volved in great pecuniary embarrassment. Although 
General Harrison was no party to the promises which 
had led us to undertake the publication, yet, being per- 
sonally acquainted with my father, he volunteered, after 
his election, to assure him that we should be repaid. His 
death, a month after his inauguration, put an end to this 
prospect. Excepting the subordinate position of measurer 
in the custom-house, — which my father held about two 
years, — and a position in the post-office by the writer, no 
recompense was ever made. 

My father, meanwhile, carried on the printing-business 
himself, issuing from his office u The Temperance Advo- 



26 MEMOIR OF THE 

cate." This was also an unprofitable undertaking; and 
he resolved to direct his attention to another channel for 
support. 

He had always entertained the idea that the union of 
the medical and ministerial duties was eminently proper 
and desirable. With this view, he attended a course of 
lectures in the college, as early as 1820-21, but was com- 
pelled to abandon his intention for want of means. In 
1845, with the advice and assistance of his son-in-law, 
Dr. Henry Taylor, he recommenced the study of medi- 
cine, under the homoeopathic system. After private study, 
he entered the college, and graduated as an M.D. in 1852. 



CHAPTER V. 



Rebuilding and Dedication of the "Bible-Christian Church" — Corre- 
spondence with James Simpson, Esq., and Drs. Graham and Alcott — 
Formation of the American Vegetarian Society — Mr. Metcalfe's Visit to 
England — Death of Mrs. Metcalfe — The Organ of the Vegetarians — 
Mr. Metcalfe's Duties and Labors — Invitation to Revisit England as 
Pastor of the "Bible-Christian Church" — Marriage to Miss Cariss- 
Departure for England. 



'& 



In 1844, the frame building in which the Bible- Chris- 
tians held their meetings began to bear evident marks of 
decay. Its repair was almost out of the question. The 
trustees, therefore, commenced taking the necessary meas- 
ures for the erection of a more substantial edifice. The 
incumbrance on the ground had been extinguished ; and a 
fund was accumulating in anticipation of requiring a new 
edifice. To aid this fund, the ladies of the church held a 
fair, which realized a handsome sum. A subscription was 
opened, and the members and friends of the church were 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. si 

liberal in their contributions : so that the trustees felt 
warranted in commencing the building. On the 4th of 
June, 1845, the work was begun: the building was roofed 
over, and the basement story finished, and formally opened 
and set apart for church services, by the Rev. William 
Metcalfe, on Sunday, November 2d, of the same year. 
Nearly two years after, the whole building was completed 
and furnished. The church proper, occupying the second 
story, was dedicated, October 10th, 1847, to the Only 
Wise God, our Saviour. The discourse by the pastor, the 
Rev. William Metcalfe, was founded upon the twentieth 
chapter of Exodus, and the ceremonies were interspersed 
with appropriate music. 

About this time Mr. Metcalfe received from James 
Simpson, Esq., a member of the " Bible-Christian Church" 
of Salford, Manchester, England, several copies of pam- 
phlets on the subject of Vegetarianism. He also received 
from the same gentleman an encouraging letter as to the 
progress of the cause in that kingdom, stating that its ad- 
vocates designed forming associations for the propagation 
of vegetarian principles as a moral reform. This was 
subsequently accomplished, and James Simpson, Esq., 
was elected president of the Vegetarian Society of Great 
Britain. Mr. Metcalfe immediately proposed the forma- 
tion of a similar society here. He corresponded with Drs, 
Graham, Alcott, Mussey, and others, and finally an Amerir 
can Vegetarian Convention assembled in Clinton Hall, 
New York, May 15th, 1850. This meeting brought to^ 
gether friends of the cause who were personally strangers, 
but who had, nevertheless, long known each other by cor^ 
respondence or repute. The Rev. William* Metcalfe 
was elected President of the Convention. Addresses 
were made by Mr. Metcalfe, Drs. Graham, Alcott, and 

others. The formation of the Vegetarian Society was 

4* 



38 MEMOIR OF THE 

agreed to ; a constitution and by-laws were presented, 
and also the form of a declaration of abstinence from 
animal food, — all of which were adopted. The Society 
was organized by electing Dr. Wm. A. Alcott, President, 
Rev. William Metcalfe, Corresponding Secretary, and 
Dr. R. T. Trall, Recording Secretary. The project of 
publishing a Vegetarian magazine was canvassed ; and it 
was determined to commence such a journal, as the organ 
of the Society. Mr. Metcalfe was named as the editor, to 
be assisted by Dr. Wm. A. Alcott and others. The first 
number was issued in November, 1850, under the title of 
the "American Vegetarian and Health Journal;" but 
its regular monthly publication did not commence until 
1851. 

Having fully organized the Vegetarian reform, and 
arranged for the organ of the cause, Mr. Metcalfe de- 
termined to pay a visit to England. This resolution 
becoming known, he was officially appointed as a delegate 
from the "American Vegetarian Society" to the annual 
meeting of the "Vegetarian Society of Great Britain;'''' 
also as a delegate from the " Pennsylvania Peace Society" 
to the World's Peace Convention, and as delegate from 
the " Pennsylvania Temperance Society" to the Grand 
Temperance Demonstration to be made in London in the 
latter part of the month. He sailed from the port of New 
York, on Saturday, July 5th, 1851, in the steamer Arctic, 
and arrived in due time to take part in these several 
gatherings. He also visited the Crystal Palace, w r hich 
had just been opened. But the most pleasing feature of 
his visit was his reception from the members of Christ 
Church, Salford, where forty years before he had received 
holy orders. They gave him a most cordial welcome; 
and he had the gratification of preaching twice, during his 
brief stay, in the building where he had received ordina- 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 39 

tion. On Sunday evening", August 10th, a "tea-party," 
comprising the whole congregation, convened in the 
school-room connected with the church. It had been 
arranged by the ladies as a means of testifying the 
respect which the members of the church entertained for 
the Rev. Dr. Metcalfe. The tables were spread with 
chaste elegance, and simplicity withal. Joseph Brother- 
ton, Esq., member of Parliament, presided on the occa- 
sion. In the course of his opening address, alluding to 
Mr. Metcalfe, he said, "I can assure you, I feel difficulty 
in expressing my feelings towards him. I hail him as a 
brother, and as a much-esteemed friend for his work's 
sake." Another asked, " What was it that rendered Mr. 
Metcalfe's visit a subject of such endearing interest to the 
friends in England ? It was not wealth ; it was not 
literary talent or eloquence merely ; but it was the con- 
viction that Mr. Metcalfe was a living exemplar of certain 
great and good principles, and the earnest promoter of the 
practices which those principles inculcated" The parting 
11 Farewell" was finally said ; and Mr. Metcalfe returned 
in time to participate in the' proceedings of the second 
annual meeting of the "American Vegetarian Society," 
which convened in the Chinese Lecture-Room, Philadel- 
phia, on the 10th of September. 

In 1853, Mr. Metcalfe was called upon to suffer a severe 
affliction, in the death of his wife. Mrs. Susan Metcalfe 
died on the 3d of November, in the seventy-fourth year of 
her age. For nearly forty-four years she had faithfully 
encouraged and sustained her consort, as a minister of 
Christianity, in his arduous undertaking of teaching duties 
and doctrines of a higher character than the world was 
willing to receive. Her hospitality was proverbial. Social 
and frank in disposition, she was ever ready to cheer the 
right, and to reprove in kindness those who were disposed 



40 MEMOIR OF THE 

to go astray. Her removal was mourned by the whole 
Church as that of a beloved mother. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Metcalfe was not only the editor of the 
u American Vegetarian," but all the duties connected with 
its publication were performed by him gratuitously. He 
was proof-reader, book-keeper, folder, and mail-packer, — 
besides being personally responsible to the printer for his 
work. He had advanced money from his own resources, 
and at considerable embarrassment, in order to have the 
regular appearance of the " Vegetarian" secured. His 
statement was laid before the annual meeting of the Vege- 
tarian Society in 1854, and the whole subject was referred 
to a special committee, with full power to use their own 
judgment in regard to its continuance. After canvassing 
the matter, the committee deemed it advisable to suspend 
its publication for a season, — hoping, if no other arrange- 
ment could be made, to be able to secure for the Society a 
hearing before the public through some other journal. Mr. 
Metcalfe being shortly after called upon to labor in another 
direction, no attempt was made by the others of the com- 
mittee to resume its publication; and the volume of 1854 
closed the "American Vegetarian." 

The " other direction" in which Mr. Metcalfe was called 

m 

was England. The Rev. J. B. Strettles, officiating 
minister of Christ Church, Salford, Manchester, died in 
the early part of 1855. Mr. Metcalfe received an invita- 
tion to visit that church, if only for a short period, until a 
suitable person could be obtained to occupy the pulpit 
made vacant by the death of its late occupant. This in- 
vitation Mr. Metcalfe presented to a meeting of the mem- 
bers of his church, and solicited leave of absence to fulfill 
the request of the bereaved church. The Rev. Joseph 
Wright, his brother-in-law, who had been ordained by the 
Rev. Dr. Cowherd, was a resident of Philadelphia and an 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 41 

active member of the church ; to him he purposed to con- 
fide its pastoral duties, if the church should grant his re- 
quest. The proposition, being urged with such an evident 
desire to aid the sister church, was granted, the Rev.* 
Joseph Wright consenting to take upon himself the duties 
of the ministry. Mr. Metcalfe had recently been married 
to Miss Mary Cariss, .a lady who had been nurtured and 
raised in the principles and discipline of the " Bible-Chris- 
tian Church, " and who was a faithful member. In the 
latter part of July he and his wife embarked for Liverpool 
from Philadelphia, They arrived safely, and were imme- 
diately waited upon by members of the church and cor- 
diallv welcomed. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Mr. Metcalfe in England— The Death of Joseph Brotherton, M.P.— Re- 
turns to his Church in Philadelphia — Death of Dr. William A. Alcott — 
Election of Rev. Dr. Metcalfe to the Presidency of the Vegetarian So- 
ciety — Ordination of his Successor in the Ministry — Celebration of the 
Semi-Centennial Anniversary of his own Ordination — The Closing Days 
of his Life — Death — Remarks on his Life — The Funeral Sermon. 

The Rev. Dr. Metcalfe w T as immediately installed into 
his pastoral duties, establishing a free and friendly inti- 
macy with all the members of the church. Again he was 
cordially greeted by his old friend, Joseph Brotherton, 
MP., who, as the early minister of the Salford church, 
was still looked to by its members as their chief adviser 
in all difficulties. James Simpson, Esq., President of the 
Yegetarian Society, also gave him hearty welcome, and 
soon had him engaged in the Yegetarian cause as a lecturer. 
He visited in this capacity not only many of the towns of 



42 MEMOIR OF THE 

England, bat, in company with Mr. Simpson, he also ad- 
dressed meetings in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and several 
smaller towns of Scotland. He was peculiarly gratified 
.with the attention which was given by the large numbers 
of the intelligent and sedate people of Scotland to the 
cause of Vegetarianism and Temperance. In fact, all his 
labors here appear to have been of an encouraging char- 
acter. 

But the prominent purpose which he ever kept in view 
was that of supplying a worthy successor to the pulpit of 
Christ Church, Salford. "He assumed the duty of impart- 
ing a systematic course of instruction to a class of young 
men in Bible-Christian Theology. Of this class he ex- 
pressed himself as quite sanguine, — its members evincing 
superior intelligence and pious devotion in their studies. 
He was the more earnest in this endeavor, as the church 
in Philadelphia, which, under Divine Providence, he had 
been instrumental in building, up, was urging his speedy 
return. 

Whilst thus busily engaged, he was startled by the 
sudden death of his old and endeared friend the Rev. 
Joseph Brotherton. Without any symptoms of previous 
sickness, he quietly and quickly passed from this transitory 
state to the eternal world, on the morning of January 8th, 
1857. This was the most severe bereavement that the 
Salford church had experienced since the death of the Rev. 
Di\ Cowherd. Mr. Brotherton was highly esteemed by 
the community at large. He had represented Salford in 
Parliament for more than twenty years, and was other- 
wise connected with its municipal government, as well as 
being an active member of several of its benevolent, lite- 
rary, and scientific associations. The mournful duty de- 
volved upon the Rev. Dr. Metcalfe of performing the last 
sad rites over the lifeless remains of his beloved friend. 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 43 

On Sunday, January 18th, he delivered a discourse " On 
the Death of the late J. Brotherton, Esq., M.P.," in Christ 
Church, Salford. Besides the mourning family and church- 
members, there were in attendance members of Parliament, 
the town-officials, and a large concourse of citizens By 
request of the church-deacons, the address was published 
in pamphlet form. 

The time was now rapidly approaching when Mr. Met- 
calfe would be at liberty to return to Philadelphia, accord- 
ing to the terms of the agreement. But the congregation 
were now, since their bereavement, more than ever desirous 
of retaining him with them permanently. The church in 
Philadelphia, however, pressed their claims upon him, so 
that he declined to prolong his stay much beyond the 
period fixed. Mr. Metcalfe and his wife made their final 
arrangements for departure ; and, in the early part of 
August, they bade an affectionate farewell to their many 
kind and dearly-beloved friends in England. They reached 
the port of New York on the 24th of the same month, 
where they were received by a committee of the church. 
They arrived at their own home on the evening of the fol- 
lowing day, where tea had been prepared for them and 
the church members generally. The meeting and greet- 
ings on both sides were most cordial and happy. Mr. 
Metcalfe resumed his ministerial duties on Sunday, Sep- 
tember 7th, and preached to a large congregation. He was 
also called upon by his old patients to recommence his 
medical practice ; and his labors in the cause of Tem- 
perance and Vegetarianism were assumed as readily as 
though no interruption had taken place. 

As life sinks apace, we are called upon to mourn the 
departure of friend after friend, in quicker succession than 
we appeared to do in our earlier years. This was Mr. 
Metcalfe's experience. Another friend and colaborer in 



44 MEMOIR OF THE 

the cause of Vegetarianism had been summoned by the 
hand of Death from this world of shadows. Dr. William 
A. Alcott, who had toiled so un weary ingly in the prosecu- 
tion of philanthropic labors, and who had written so many 
instructive books of a practical character, died on the 29th 
of March, 1859, in the sixty-second year of his age, — 
thirty-one of which had been more or less zealously de- 
voted to the propagation and practice of Vegetarianism. 
At the annual meeting of the Vegetarian Society, held 
September 21st, Dr. Metcalfe was unanimously elected 
president, which position had been so ably filled by Dr. 
"Alcott from the time of its organization. On assuming 
the chair, Dr. Metcalfe delivered a fitting eulogy upon the 
life, labors, and character of his deceased predecessor. 

My beloved father had frequently, during many years 
past, expressed great anxiety respecting his successor to 
the ministry in the Church. On Sunday morning, Sep- 
tember 4th, 1859, he had the great gratification of engaging 
in the solemn service of an ordination. His son, the 
writer of this brief memoir, was presented to him by the 
senior deacons of the church, Jonathan Wright and Elijah 
Roth well, as a person whom the members of the church 
unanimously desired to have introduced into the ministry. 
After proper examination, the candidate was duly ordained 
a minister of the word of God, by the venerable hands of 
the ordaining minister, and the appropriate ceremonies and 
charges. 

Another occasion which he considered himself as highly 
favored in being privileged to enjoy, was the semi-centen- 
nial celebration of his own ordination. In the providence 
of God, this was granted to the Rev. William Metcalfe, 
on Sunday, August 11th, 1861. After preaching an ap- 
propriate sermon on the afternoon of that day, the congre- 
gation adjourned to the school room of the church. Here, 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 45 

around long tables bountifully supplied with vegetarian 
fare and profusely decorated with flowers, they consti- 
tuted themselves into a large family tea-party, — the Rev. 
Dr. Metcalfe, as the " father in Israel," presiding. Reso- 
lutions of a grateful and congratulatory character were 
presented to their venerable minister, besides some other 
tokens of esteem and affection. A copy of his discourse 
on that occasion was solicited, which was published by 
the committee. Thus my father continued to labor in the 
service of the Lord, and, as he himself remarked, "It was 
his joy, — and most his joy when most laborious." 

And now we approach the close of this long life of in- 
cessant activity. Since his return from England, my 
father had enjoyed general good health. He had been 
troubled somewhat during the past year with a polypus in 
his nose : still, he had not been interrupted in any of his 
ministerial or other duties. Even on the Sabbath before 
his death he preached with all his accustomed vigor and 
animation. He appeared to be hoarse, as if from a severe 
cold : yet his delivery was as distinct as ever. Faithfully 
and earnestly did he lay before his flock, morning and 
afternoon of that day, the commandments of the Lord. 
That night he was taken ill with hemorrhage of the lungs, 
and on the following morning, when the writer called to 
see him, he expressed serious doubts of his ultimate re- 
covery. Still he retained the buoyancy and cheerfulness 
of his disposition ; and on the succeeding morning he was 
so much improved that he thought it possible he might 
again recover. He continued to gain strength, and*was 
sitting up during most of the day. On Thursday he had 
been visited by all his children, and his blessing had been 
bestowed upon them with more than usual serenity. 
Some remained and took tea with him. All but one had 
departed, when, about eight o'clock, he prepared to retire 

5 



46 MEMOIR OF THE 

for the night. And now, like Jacob of old, " when he had 
made an end of commanding his children," my beloved 
father literally " gathered up his feet into the bed, and 
yielded up the spirit, and was gathered unto his people." 
His removal at last was, therefore, very sudden, and was 
doubtless caused by a renewal of the hemorrhage. The 
Rev. William Metcalfe died on Thursday evening, Octo- 
ber 16th, 1862, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. The 
silver cord was loosened, the golden bowl was broken, 
and the wheel of action stood still in the exhausted cistern 
of the mortal life of this truly good man ; but the soul 
soared away to the eternal kingdom of its Lord, to join 
its friends, not lost, but gone before, and to become a more 
efficient laborer in the cause of humanity, in which it was 
so much interested. 

The whole life of the Rev. William Metcalfe was one 
of unremitting labor for the good of others, and for the 
establishment of the vital principles of Christianity in the 
souls of his fellow-men. The specific work of his life was 
that of sowing the seeds and cultivating the principles of 
Temperance and Vegetarianism and permanently estab- 
lishing the " Bible-Christian Church" in this country. 
These were no small labors for one man's life ; and yet the 
Rev. William Metcalfe was the primary agency, under 
Divine Providence, for the development and organization 
of these moral and religious reforms in this hemisphere of 
the world. He was not, it is true, a noisy, blustering, 
passionate reformer. Such displays are generally evi- 
dences of weakness, rather than of power and intelli- 
gence. He who quietly resists the current of the times, 
who stands up steadily against its corruptions and vices, 
and who, from a firm conviction of principle and with a 
confident reliance on Divine assistance, will not be carried 
away by faction, opposition, or temptation, — he is the 
strongest and most practical reformer. The Rev. William 



REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 4? 

Metcalfe thus stood and labored for Total Abstinence, for 
Vegetarianism, and for Bible-Christianity, when there 
were none but the few gathered friends around him, who 
had as yet raised a voice in behalf of either. 

No man ever shrunk from publicity more than the 
Rev. Dr. Metcalfe ; but his ardent zeal for truth impelled 
him to antagonisms, even at the expense of his feelings 
and of his own personal ease and comfort. He was 
deeply reverential, and all his religious sentiments were 
strong and pure, — thus uniting in himself the character 
of the saint to that of the reformer. As a pastor and 
preacher he was prompt and faithful to all his charges. 
During his entire fifty-two years' ministry, whatever 
might be his outward difficulties or embarrassments, with 
but very few exceptions he was to be found in the pulpit 
every Sabbath-day morning and afternoon, and sometimes 
also in the evening. His general health was so uniform 
that the exceptions occasioned by sickness did not number 
more than five or six Sabbaths. The other exceptions 
were during the periods when he was crossing the ocean ; 
and even then he officiated as often as the opportunity 
presented itself. 

The Rev. William Metcalfe was beloved by his entire 
congregation as a fond father, and an extensive circle of 
acquaintances were sincerely attached to him in the bonds 
of personal friendship. He retained the buoyancy and 
cheerfulness of his disposition to the last; and the pleas- 
ant humor and affectionate tenderness of his social inter- 
course, even on the day of his decease, were in beautiful 
harmony with his life of temperance and piety. His re- 
mains were interred in the burial-ground attached to the 
church which had been built under his auspices. The 
services were performed by the Rev. E. A. Beaman, who 
also preached an eloquent and consolatory funeral sermon, 
on the following Sabbath, to a large congregation. 



48 MEMOIR OF REV. WILLIAM METCALFE. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Description of a Tablet to the Memory of the Rev. William Metcalfe — 
Testimonials — Resolutions adopted by the " Bible-Christian Church " of 
Philadelphia — Letter of Condolence from Christ Church, Salford, Eng- 
land. 

A tablet has been erected in the church, immediately 
behind the pulpit which he adorned so long. It is of 
white Italian marble, placed in a recess having a black- 
marbled background, thus forming a border to the tablet 
of four or five inches. The top of the tablet is semicircu- 
lar, having in it a raised Bible, with rays diverging from 
it, and over which are the following words: — "Thy 
Word is a Light unto my Path." Underneath the semi- 
circle is a scroll, bearing the following inscriptions : — " In 
Memory of our Beloved Pastor, the Rev. WILLIAM 
METCALFE, M.D., Founder of the first ' Bible-Chris- 
tian Church' in America: who departed this life October 
16th, 1862, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He was a 
faithful, enlightened, and exemplary minister of the Word 
of God for fifty-two years. ' God is not the God of the 
dead, but of the living.' — Matt. xxii. 32." 

The periodicals of the day, in noticing the death of the 
Rev. William Metcalfe, paid tribute to his many virtues as 
a minister of religion and as a moral reformer. Numerous 
letters were also received by the family, from public and 
private sources, containing eloquent eulogies on his life 
and character. Testimonials from the "Bible-Christian 
Church " in Philadelphia, and also from Christ Church, 
Salford, England, are herewith appended. 



TRIBUTE OF RESPECT. 



The congregation worshiping in the "Bible-Christian Church/' 
North Third Street, above Girard" Avenue, Philadelphia, assembled in 
special meeting on the afternoon of Sunday, October 26th, 1862. Ad- 
dresses were delivered in regard to" the bereavement which the Church 
had experienced, and, among other proceedings, the following Preamble 
and Resolutions were presented by Mr. Elijah Rothwell, which were 
unanimously adopted, and ordered to be engrossed on the Church 
Journal : 

"Whereas, In the dispensation of our heavenly Father, our beloved 
Pastor, the Rev. WILLIAM METCALFE, M.D., has been removed by 
death from the scene of his labors in the external Church, to perform 
higher services in the Spiritual Church of the Lord; and whereas we 
have long enjoyed the privilege of his fatherly counsel, and have been 
intimately acquainted with his many personal virtues and his great 
sacrifices for the cause of Scripture-founded Christianity; and whereas 
we earnestly desire and deem it our duty to place on record a true de- 
lineation of his character : be it, therefore, hereby 

" Resolved, That we behold in the character of our late venerable Pastor 
that purity of life, that humility of disposition, that equanimity of tem- 
per, and that peaceful demeanor, which constitute the necessary qualifi- 
cations of a true apostle of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

"Resolved, That in the domestic circle we saw in the Rev. Dr. Metcalfe 
a devoted husband and a loving father. In social life he was kind and 
tender-hearted, and, consequently, was respected and beloved by all who 
knew him. His love of usefulness caused him to be active in aiding and 
assisting in all social and moral reforms ; and his name, we are assured, 
is embalmed in unnumbered hearts, who will transmit the memory of his 
virtues and usefulness to future generations. 

"Resolved, That in his ministerial duties the Rev. William Metcalfe 
was faithful and devoted to the service of his Great Exemplar and 
Teacher, — fearlessly opposing the vicious habits and customs of society 
with all the ability of his talents and life, — bearing unfaltering testimony 

5* (49) 



50 TRIBUTE OF RESPECT. 

of more than fifty-two years to truth, justice, and mercy, and performing 
punctually, even to the last Sabbath of his life on earth, the sacred duties 
of his mission as a preacher of Bible- Christianity. 

"Resolved, That a committee be appointed to cause a suitable monu- 
ment to be erected over the remains of our beloved Pastor, as a token of 
affection on behalf of the Church of which he was, under Divine Provi- 
dence, the founder in this country, and for which he so long labored. 

" Jonathan Wright, President. 

" Emanuel Hey, Secretary pro tern." 



Address from the Members of the i( Bible- Christian Church, 1 ' Salford, to 
their Brethren in Philadelphia, United States. 

Christian Friends : 

By letters from friends on your side of the Atlantic, and from public 
prints received through the same channels, we are put in possession 
of the knowledge that your church has recently endured a most dis- 
tressing bereavement in the death of your faithful friend and pastor, the 
Rev. William Metcalfe. Bound to you by the endearing ties of long 
service in the holiest things, associated in your recollections with the 
happiest and most interesting events of your own and your children's 
lives, and in perhaps a more sacred way with your troubles and losses, 
his removal hence cannot fail to be a cause of deep sorrow to all your 
little flock. The child whom he had baptized and who had lived long 
enough to recognize the benevolent expression of his countenance, re- 
flecting the light within, — the young man or maiden whom he has 
received into the bosom of the Church, and to whom, under God, he has 
ministered the bread of life and the living waters of comfort and peace, — 
the devout servant of the Lord, who has waited on his ministrations and 
profited by the detail of his heavenly experiences and emotions and his 
intimate acquaintance with the divine truth, — each and all must feel 
conscious of a void which cannot easily be supplied, — a loss which is all 
but irreparable. In presence of such a calamity, we desire to offer you 
our warmest sympathies, and the assurance of our unabated attachment 
to yourselves and the principles we hold in common. Our hearts unite 
in "weeping with them that weep," because of the loss to the world in 
our dear friend's death, and particularly for the loss the "Bible-Christian 
Church" has sustained thereby. Our own loss and our own sorrow are 
only second to yours in this afflicting dispensation of Divine Providence; 
but we desire to encourage and to strengthen you as the Lord has taught 



TRIBUTE OF RESPECT. 51 

us. Whilst acknowledging in sadness that "no chastening seemeth for 
the present joyous, but grievous/' we also hope that this chastisement 
will " afterwards yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that 
are exercised thereby." May our heavenly Father so teach you and us 
that we may find that godly exercise in our present grief, which shall 
yield us the peaceable fruits of righteousness ! May we learn even now 
to say, The Lord is gracious and merciful ; his ways are good and right! 
He is the Father of the fatherless, the Husband of the widow, the Friend 
of the friendless. In each of these relationships we humbly pray that 
He may now be manifested to you, "carrying your little ones in his 
arms as on eagle's wings," consoling the widowed Church with the as- 
surance of his protection and love, and supplying by the direct influences 
of his Spirit the need created by the death of your revered minister. 

Our great comfort is that whatever is true or good cannot perish. Its 
vitality is in the charge of Him who is the truth and who alone is per- 
fectly good. We have, therefore, no fear that the principles of Bible- 
Christianity can die. Though they may wane for a season through lack 
of zeal or the want of faithful men, yet must they spring again, like seeds 
long buried in the earth, when the needs of mankind lead them to remove 
the crust of errors and evils that has overlaid the good and the true. 

We sorrow not as those without hope, but as looking and waiting our- 
selves for the great deliverance, when to die will be gain, inasmuch as we 
shall be with the Lord. This hope, we doubt not, abides with you, and 
our prayer to God on your behalf is, that it may abound more and more 
until the day when faith shall be lost in sight. 

********* * * * -# 

Praying that our heavenly Father may aid and comfort you at all 
times, but especially at the present time of need, that He will enlarge 
you and give you increased proofs of his regard for you, 
We are, 

Christian friends, 

Yours affectionately, 

James Clark, Minister, 
Robert Milner, 
Edwin Collier, 
Committee of Correspondence. 



OUT OF THE CLOUDS 

INTO THE LIGHT. 



DISCOURSE I. 

ON THE BEING AND UNITY OF GOD. 
Zechariah xiv. 9. 

We propose delivering a course of Theological instruc- 
tion on the leading principles of the Bible-Christian 
Church, and we take as an introductory to such a series 
of religious Discourses, and as an important leading doc- 
trine of our Church, The Being and Unity or Oneness of 
God as our morning's subject. 

We have made this selection from a thorough convic- 
tion that the idea we entertain in regard to God enters 
into our every thought, and qualifies every idea relating 
to Religious doctrines, to the Church and to Worship. 
Above all other subjects Theological principles should 
occupy a prominent place in the human mind, and among 
the most important of these is the idea we entertain 
respecting the Being, Unity, and attributes of God. If 
this primary subject be erroneously understood, all the 
doctrines deduced from it, participating of its nature, will, 
as a natural consequence, be also erroneous. As is the 

(53) 



54 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

fountain, so also will be the streams flowing from it. For 
that which is supreme or inmost constitutes the very 
Essential principle' of all that is derived from it ; and the 
Essential or inmost principle, like the soul in the material 
body, gives form and appearance after its own peculiar 
image and nature ; and even when the mind takes into 
contemplation the truths of Creation or of Revelation, its 
erroneous opinion relative to the Divine Being, as the 
medium through which it beholds all such truths, gives 
to them also a tinge, a coloring, or appearance, in har- 
mony with its own peculiar nature. Our young friends, 
therefore, and our hearers generally, will see how very 
necessary it is that our most earnest attention should be 
directed to the acquisition of a correct knowledge of the 
subject before us. 

The man who professes to believe that it is his duty to 
worship God, must,af he act rationally, do it on the con- 
viction that there is such a Being. " He that cometh to 
God must believe that He is" a Being infinite, eternal, 
unoriginated, and self-existent; the Cause of all other 
beings, — on whom all being depends, and by whose Good- 
ness, Wisdom, Power, and Providence all other beings 
exist, live, and are supplied with the means of continued 
existence and life, or rather are recipients of life from Him. 
From the "beauty, order, and regularity manifested in the 
works of Creation, we may not merely infer the Being of 
a God of such a character, but we may prove it by a 
logical demonstration : we cannot calmly contemplate the 
spangled heavens — that shining frame — and not be con- 
vinced that such a magnificent display of grandeur, order, 
and sublimity is evidently the effect of One Almighty 
Being. There is intelligence, there is wisdom impressed 
upon the design itself, and this is evidence of the exist- 
ence and the wisdom of the Designer. When we reflect 



INTO THE LIGHT. 55 

on the numerous planetary orbs in our solar system, on 
the regularity and order with which they perform their 
revolutions round the sun, as the'ir common parent and 
centre, while each at the same time performs a rotary 
motion on its own axis by which the days and nights are 
formed, and the periods fixed for labor and rest ; these are 
all so many indubitable tokens of infinite intelligence 
which can exist only in a First Cause, and that First 
Cause is God, the Infinite, Unoriginated, Self-existent, 
Eternal, and Living One. 

Whatever may be the condition of man, the Bible 
teaches him to hope for better things. We are not to rest 
satisfied with any present attainment, but to press for- 
ward to a higher mark. Moral and mental acquirements 
have no absolute stopping-place; whenever they are stayed 
in their onward progress, we may trace the cause to an 
enemy attempting to turn aside the purposes of God. 
As Bible-Christians we receive this Book as a divine 
composition, containing a Revelation of God, and from 
God. But objectors say this Book takes for granted two 
disputable points : first the existence of God, as its re- 
vealer, and next the existence of the human spirit, capable 
of receiving his inspiration. It is true these facts are 
taken for granted by believers in the Bible as a Divine 
production. But there must be a point from which to 
start in our inquiries respecting its character. The neces- 
sity of a Divine Revelation implies man's natural igno- 
rance of these two things; and the gift of such a revelation 
proves their reality. If man did not know there was a 
God, and if he were unacquainted with the spiritualities 
of his own nature, the circumstance of such a Revelation 
being made to him is a proof of both. — a proof which is 
independent of any precise statement contained in that 
Revelation. But a Divine Revelation has been made, 



56 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

therefore God and the human soul exist. The question 
then arises, Could this knowledge ever have entered the 
world without Revelation ? Ideas of God and of the 
human soul exist. They have prevailed during all his- 
torical time, and among all civilized people, and even 
many savage tribes are not entirely without them. A 
universal impression prevails respecting the existence of 
both. There is an influx universal into the souls of men, 
teaching both the Being and the Unity of God. Even 
the Atheists of modern civil life, though they say "there 
is no God," are not entirely without these impressions; 
the facts which they indicate may be contrary to their 
speculations, but not so to their experience. If any of 
them insist that they have no such experience, we of 
course believe what they say, but we maintain they have 
not observed their experiences correctly; or, even if they 
have, their case does not disprove what every one else 
acknowledges to be true. If they have no possession of 
gold, that is no evidence that all other persons are desti- 
tute of that precious metal. The blind man may truly say 
he does not see, but it does not follow that all other men 
are therefore deprived of sight. He, then, who insists 
that he has no experience as to the universality of im- 
pressions respecting the Being of a God, only tells us of 
an exceptional case. But the impression and consequent 
idea of the existence of God prevails among mankind, and 
has always done so. Cicero says, " There is no nation so 
wild and savage, no man so rude and uncultivated, whose 
mind is not imbued with the opinion that there is a God. 
Many have wrong sentiments concerning Him, but all 
think there is a Divine Power." Lord Brougham, in a 
discourse on Natural Theology, says, " There can hardly 
be found a tribe so dark and barbarous as to be without 
some kind of worship, and some belief in a God, and in 



INTO THE LIGHT. 57 

a future state of existence." To these statements, how- 
ever, there may be some slight exceptions. Locke, the 
author of an Essay on the Human Understanding, refers 
to some savage people, reported by navigators, "among 
whom there was found to be no notion of a God, and no 
religion." Swedenborg also remarks in his T. C. R., 274, 
that there were persons born in remote islands who had 
no knowledge at all concerning God. But these cases are 
so few as to be of little weight against the general argu- 
ment that there is an influx universal into the souls of 
men, teaching the Being of a God. As, then, no period of 
history nor scarcely any people can be shown to have 
been without this impression, whence did it originate ? 
How did the first men obtain this kuowledge ? How did 
the idea of God originate with primitive men ? Various 
opinions have prevailed in relation to these questions. 
They may be divided, however, into three general classes, 
among each of which there is great diversity of senti- 
ment. 

First, the Atheists: they assert that there is no such a 
being as God! Some of these say that the idea of God 
is the offspring of ignorance, and others among them that 
it is the invention of fear, or a device of the clergy. 

Second, the Deists: they admit that there is a God, 
but deny that the Sacred Scriptures are any revelation 
from Him. Among them, some maintain that the idea of 
God's existence is impressed upon us by what they call 
the hand of nature ; others of them, that the existence of 
a God is a philosophical idea; and others, that it is de- 
rived from feeling and natural logic. 

Third, the Religionists : they believe in God's exist- 
ence, and receive the Bible as a Divine communication 
from Him. With some of these, there is no very definite 
opinion about the origin of this idea; others again insist, 

6 



58 OUT OF TEE CLOUDS: 

among whom are Bible-Christians, that the idea of a God 
is the sole issue and end of Divine Revelation. 

It is not our purpose at this time to dwell on either the 
Atheistic or the Deistic opinions, but rather to refer to 
the light which Revelation sheds on our subject. We 
therefore come at once to the idea entertained by pro- 
fessors of religion, and particularly to that of Bible-Chris- 
tians, on this topic. It seems plain to us that the knowledge 
of God's existence must have originally sprung out of his 
Revelation of the truth to man. No other view can ade- 
quately account for its antiquity, its universality, or its 
permanence. "Now we all know that the idea of God 
exists; and this, upon the principle w'e have laid down, is 
a proof that God exists. No man is conscious of having 
originated this idea in himself. All now know that it is 
the result of instruction ; there must, then, have been a first 
instructor. There may be, there doubtless is, an internal 
influx operating upon the mind of every one, inclining it 
to the favorable reception of the idea of a God, when it is 
presented; still, without the presentation that influence 
could have no ground nor mental plane on which to act. 
The primeval idea can be accounted for upon no other 
principle than that of God having revealed Himself to the 
human mind. We maintain therefore that the idea of the 
existence of God has come into the world by means of 
Revelation. We do not mean to say that that Revelation 
was the Bible precisely as w r e have it, because the idea 
of God's existence prevailed for many ages before the 
Bible became a written Revelation." But the first por- 
tions of the Bible contain a history of the religious con- 
dition of the earliest inhabitants of the world, and from it 
we learn that God made Himself known to them ; and that 
they acknowledged his existence. 

Immediately after the creation of man, God is repre- 



INTO THE LIGHT. 59 

sented as having spoken to him. This, of course, was in 
itself Revelation. Thus the oldest history extant, apart 
from the fact of its being itself a revelation, declares that 
the first idea which man had of God's existence was com- 
municated from God Himself. It is therefore historically- 
certain that all the ideas concerning God which have 
ever existed in the world must have originally sprung 
from God's having, at different times, revealed or mani- 
fested Himself to men ; — not that the perversions of Reve- 
lation came from Him; but even they prove that there 
was some primary truth to pervert. But while it is con- 
ceded that the idea of the Being of a God, since its first 
promulgation, has been propagated by means of instruc- 
tion, more or less imperfect, the perpetuation of it has 
been assisted by other means. The wonderful fact of its 
continuance and universality cannot be accounted for on 
the ground of mere teaching. This human effort, carried 
on by the faithful teachers, members of his Church, has 
always been assisted by a Divine provision. As we have 
already said, there has always been an influx from God 
into the souls of men, inducing them to receive favorably 
the idea that there is a God. Without this influx human 
effort would have been fruitless. That there is an influx 
of this nature is well known. The Bible teaches it; and 
experience confirms it. "A man can receive nothing ex- 
cept it be given him from heaven." Again, " Every good 
and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the 
Father of lights." The order of the descent of this influx 
is for the superior to flow into the inferior : for God, who 
is the Supreme Spirit, to cause an influx of Himself into 
the human soul ; from the soul into the mind, and from 
the mind into the nervous and muscular organs which 
constitute the body; and into each of these according 
to its peculiar adaptability. The knowledge of the being 



60 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

of a God, since it was first revealed, has been universally 
taught, — taught, it must be confessed, in numerous cases, 
with strange additions, and marvelous omissions and per- 
versions ; but still the idea of a Supreme existence — 
Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent — has been at 
the foundation of them all. 

The truth, having been once introduced to the human 
mind, and continued by external teaching, has been met 
by a spiritual influx, inspiring the idea with a living char- 
acter, and so providing for the continuation of the teaching, 
by perpetuating the belief. Everywhere may be seen 
testimonies of his Being, and the imprint of his Benevo- 
lence and other attributes is legibly enstamped on Uni- 
versal Creation. It may be also clearly perceived that 
there can be but One Great First Cause of all things. 
Unity of purpose is visible in all the diversified objects 
throughout Creation; everything indicates the existence 
of one intelligent, indivisible, and independent Being; and 
yet the order and harmony manifested in all things con- 
clusively show there cannot possibly be more than one 
such intelligent and Omnipresent Being.* 



* While we are zealous for the Unity or Oneness of the Divine 
Being, we would not that any of our hearers should confound us 
with those known in the religious world as Unitarians. No two 
views concerning the Godhead can be more at variance. The 
Unitarians consider Jesus Christ to have had no existence till his 
birth into the world ; they suppose Him to have been a mere man 
like themselves, the natural son of Joseph and Mary, and con- 
sequently as having no claims, by birth or descent, superior to those 
of any other moral human being. Whereas the members of the 
Bible-Christian Church believe and maintain that God was in 
Christ; that He is "The True God and Eternal Life;" "God 
over all, blessed forever ;" that " in Him dwells all the fullness of 
the Godhead bodily." 

These truths we shall demonstrate in our Discourse on The Lord 



INTO THE LIGHT. 61 

It is from this great First Cause, " the one living and 
true God," that all Creation subsists, and by whom all 
created substances were originally produced. A little 
reflection will satisfy the minds of our hearers that it is 
impossible any substance could ever spring up out of 
nothing; from nothing, nothing can come. All things 
that exist, therefore, must necessarily have been produced 
from God, the Creator of all ; and produced in a way and 
order that effectually preserves the most perfect and com- 
plete distinction between the Great Creator and the 
creatures of his hand. But we are not left to vain con- 
jecture on the subject before us. 

In Divine Revelation He has given the most absolute 
and unmistakable declarations both of his Being and 
Unity. The Bible says, " Hear, Israel, the Lord our 
God is one Lord." "Thus saith the Lord, the King of 
Israel, I am the First, and I am the Last, and beside me 
there is no God." " Thou shalt have no other Gods be- 
fore me." " I am the Lord thy God, and thou shalt know 
no God but me." "In the beginning God created the 
heavens and the earth." "I am the Lord that maketh all 
things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that 
spreadeth abroad the earth by myself 17 "I have made 
the earth, and created man upon it ; I, even my own 
hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts 
have I commanded." "There is One God, and there is 
none else." Is it not therefore obvious to our hearers, that 
it is entirely at variance with both enlightened reason and 
Divine Revelation to say with " the fool, there is no God" 
or with some professors of religion that there are more 
Gods than one? 

and Saviour Jesus Christ. We have mentioned them here only to 
prevent any misapprehension on the part of our hearers. 

6* 



62 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

From what has been said, we trust our hearers will see 
the weighty importance of having a just and clear idea of 
the Being and Unity of God, as constituting the first 
article of true religion. They will perceive the necessity 
and use of Revelation to help us to the attainment of a 
proper idea of God and his attributes. Thus aided, it 
will be seen that Creation, or what is called Nature, and 
all its parts, must have had a cause or beginning; and 
that all things owe their being to God. He must have 
existed from eternity as One, Indivisible, Independent, 
Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God. It will 
also have been perceived that the imprint of his Being 
and of his Divine Attributes is enstamped on Universal 
Creation ; and that in harmony with these there is an 
influx universal ever flowing into the souls of men, in- 
ducing the idea of the Being and Unity of God. We have 
shown, also, that there is no people throughout the world 
possessed of religion and intellectual intelligence that 
does not confess the Being of a God, and that He is One. 
And we have directed your attention to the Scripture 
testimony with respect to the Being and Oneness of God. 

Almighty God ! thou First and Last! 

How wonderful, how great art Thou! 
The present, future, and the past 

To Thee are one eternal now. 
Thou Infinite! no finite thought 

Could e'er approach thy high abode; 
But as Revealed, to vision brought, 

We see Thee One !— We know Thee God ! 

And now our fervent prayer to that glorious Being is, 
that all that has been said in harmony with his Divine 
Will may be deeply impressed upon your minds, take root 
in your thoughts, and bring forth fruit unto eternal life. 
Amen. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 63 



DISCOURSE II. 

ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. 

John x. 30. 

In our recent Discourse on the Being and Unity of God, 
we attempted to make you acquainted with the views of 
the Bible-Christian Church respecting that important sub- 
ject. From what was then said, it is presumed we may 
justly conclude, without offering violence to the truth, 
that there is a God, and that He is One. Every indi- 
vidual in the enjoyment of his rational powers must admit 
it would be the height of folly to acquiesce in the creed of 
the Atheist, and say " there is no God ;" and that it would 
be nothing less at variance with the truth to suppose for a 
moment that there are more Gods than one. The charac- 
teristics of a God are indelibly enstamped upon all crea- 
tion, and interwoven throughout the whole moral and in- 
tellectual nature of humanity. We purpose, this morning, 
bespeaking your serious and Christian attention to the 
importance of a knowledge of the true God ; and as this 
knowledge is of the utmost importance to the everlasting 
interests of every one of us, anything that has a tendency 
to answer satisfactorily the question, " Who is the Lord," 
or the true God? will doubtless be received by every one 
of our hearers with joy and gladness of heart. It is not 
sufficient for all the purposes of religion and life to know 
simply that God is, and that God is One ; but it is also 



64 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

expedient to know as correctly as possible who is the great 
object claiming our best affections, and who demands the 
warmest gratitude and thanksgivings of our hearts. 

In commencing our subject, therefore, we would ask, in 
the language of the Bible, "Who is the Lord?" "What 
think ye of Christ?" These questions are short and sim- 
ple, and the only true answers to them are equally so. In 
solving these queries, we would state, according to our 
view of the Bible testimony, that the glorified Jesus 
Christ is the only Lord. Some one may perhaps say, Is 
He the only Lord? We answer, Bible-Christians believe 
He is the only Lord, — "The only wise God, our 
Saviour," in " whom dwelleth all the fullness of the God- 
head bodily; 11 that " He and the Father are One." In 
making these declarations, it may be thought necessary 
that we should enter into some more full explanation of 
so important a doctrine as that respecting the Supreme 
Divinity of Jesus Christ, and attempt to show how the 
doctrine is to be understood. This we will make an effort 
to do, and afterwards proceed to the scriptural proof of 
our proposition, so that no doubts may remain upon the 
minds of our hearers as to the truth of the Bible-Christian 
doctrine. The Infinite and Eternal God, the Creator and 
Father of all in Heaven and throughout the universe, is, 
in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, revealed to us by 
his name Jehovah, — translated Lord ; .and we are in- 
formed, in that revelation which He has been pleased to 
give of Himself, that He did, at sundry times and in divers 
manners, through the instrumentality of Hoses, the Patri- 
archs and Prophets, manifest Himself and reveal his will 
to his church and people; that his appearance was always 
to instruct them in things belonging to their peace, and 
to point out to them the path of wisdom and of true holi- 
ness. But such was the proneness of fallen human nature 



INTO THE LIGHT. 65 

to folly and wickedness, that mankind from the fall con- 
tinued to go still farther and farther from the sphere of 
the Divine Presence ; wickedness and folly attended their 
idolatrous and destructive progress, until their spiritual 
"beauty and comeliness" as the Lord's people were ex- 
changed for that direful and distressing state described by 
the prophet, viz., " The whole head is sick, and the whole 
heart faint ; from the sole of the foot even unto the head 
there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and 
putrefying sores." The mental and moral degeneracy of 
the people, indeed, increased so rapidly in regard to spir- 
itual things that " Wickedness burned as an oven, and the 
foolishness of men was so great" that, notwithstanding 
the Divine manifestations, many began to say in their 
hearts, "There is no God." In order, then, to reach this 
low state of human mentality and effectually redeem man- 
kind from this deadly infatuation and folly, Jehovah, our 
Creator and Heavenly Father, whose goodness and mercy 
had followed sinning mankind in all their declining ways 
and spiritual degeneracies, in his love and in his pity, be- 
came our Redeemer and Saviour. He visited his people, 
and, in the person of Jesus Christ, brought Life and im- 
mortality to light where darkness only had reigned; for 
" God was then manifested in the flesh," — " God was in 
Christ" to restore man to the condition he had lost by 
his sinfulness, and to open again that way of life, and 
heaven, and happiness which, through the transgressions 
of man, had become closed. On this account, and for this 
specific purpose, " God was in Christ, reconciling the 
world to Himself." When, however, we announce that 
Jesus Christ is the "Only True God and Eternal 
Life, — the supreme object of all Christian worship, — we 
would guard and caution our hearers, and especially our 
young hearers, against imagining that we confine the 



66 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

name Jesus Christ to the finite and material form 
assumed from the mother ; for with respect to the mate- 
rial body, Jesus Christ was subject to hunger and thirst, 
and to all other infirmities to which nature must forever 
be subject; but, to reach and redeem man, He also 
assumed, through the same medium, the fallen, sinful 
human spirit that needed to be redeemed, — the affections 
and thoughts of maa's sinful soul. It was in this 
assumed spirit of man that He experienced temptation, — 
for God cannot be tempted ; that He met and conquered 
the powers of darkness, " led captivity captive," and re- 
deemed this assumed spirit or nature of man from all its 
impurities, filled it with its appropriate degree of his 
own Glory, and reunited it with the Essential Divine 
Spirit (the Love and Wisdom of the Great Infinite, which 
stood into Christ unfinitedly, and became, as it were, soul 
in Him). In this manner He opened a new way of access 
to mankind for their salvation. He came that He might 
be able to reach and to save all men. A careful distinc- 
tion, then, must ever be made between that which in reality 
is Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, his genuine Man- 
hood, and that material, organized body of flesh and blood 
which was needed in this outer world during the process of 
redemption, but which, when that work was accomplished, 
was put off and dissipated in the sepulchre, and finally 
deflagrated at the ascension, — for " Flesh and blood," we 
are expressly told in the sacred volume, " cannot enter into 
the kingdom of heaven." It was in this assumed human, 
then, that the Lord God of Israel, as Jesus Christ, 
visited, and taught, and redeemed his people. The term 
Jesus Christ, in the New Testament; has a similar signi- 
fication to that of the Lord God, so frequently mentioned 
in the Old. The term Jehovah, or Lord, implies the 
Divine Love; and the term God, the Divine Wisdom. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 67 

This Love and Wisdom, when manifested in the fleshly 
tabernacle of Jesus, for the redemption and salvation of 
man, is the true Jesus Christ, — the name Jesus denoting 
the Divine Love ; and Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed, 
the Divine Wisdom, which, as the Word, was made flesh, 
or rather made manifest in the flesh, and we beheld his 
glory. We have made these remarks in order to prevent 
any confusion arising in the minds of our hearers respect- 
ing the highly important principle we have this morning 
announced, — that Jesus Christ is the " Only true God 
and Eternal Life," and that none of our hearers may 
suppose that we call that God which in reality is not 
even Man ; for flesh and blood, considered literally, ac- 
cording to the common acceptation of the terms, cannot 
be man : these only form the material investment or or- 
ganized body, in which and by which man, as an immortal 
being or soul, is known, is seen, exists, and materializes 
his living purposes in this outward world of nature. It 
is the Will and Understanding which together form the 
human mind, in which are contained a vast store of affec- 
tions, thoughts, perceptions, and intellectual powers, which 
all together make up what the Bible calls the living soul ; 
and the living soul is the real man. Justly, therefore, has 
the poet, Dr. W r atts, said, "The mind is the measure of 
the man." We say, then, as Bible-Christians, that Jeho- 
vah God, mentioned in the Old Testament, and Jesus 
Christ, mentioned in the New, are only different names 
expressive of the self-same Divine Being, — the different 
names being properly adapted to express the difference 
between the nature of the Jewish Dispensation and that 
of Christianity, and to indicate the true character and 
quality of each. When we maintain that Jesus Christ 
is the only true God and Lord of heaven and earth, we 
wish to be distinctlv understood that we make not the 



68 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

most distant allusion to the mere body of flesh and blood 
which was crucified on Mount Calvary, but we speak of 
the Love and Wisdom which stood unfinitedly into the 
assumed manhood of Jesus Christ, and gave the power 
of performing all the mighty works and teaching all the 
heavenly principles ascribed to Him in the Gospel. There- 
fore, according to the doctrines of the Bible-Christian 
Church, the work of human redemption did not consist in 
Jesus Christ coming into the world to offer Himself as a 
sacrifice in the place of sinful man, with a view of appeas- 
ing the wrath of the Father, of satisfying his vindictive 
justice, and, by such a process, of atoning for the sins of 
the world ; for, in the first place, there is no such odious 
passion as wrath in the Divine Being, nor is He possessed 
of any such attribute as vindictive justice. " God is Love, 
— the same yesterday, today, and forever;" He changeth 
not. In the next place, it is contrary to every principle 
of justice, divine or human, that the innocent should suffer 
for the crimes of the guilty. " The fathers shall not be 
put to death for the children; neither shall the children 
be put to death for the fathers ; but every man shall be 
put to death for his own sin.' 7 And, in the next place, 
there is no Divine Being distinct from the glorified Lord 
Jesus Christ to whom to make atonement. " 1 and the 
Father are one." But redemption, being a work purely 
Divine, consisted in the actual assumption of the fallen spirit 
or nature of man, and therein subduing the powers of sin 
and darkness, introducing order and purity where sin had 
reigned, bringing into subjection the powers of hell, and 
glorifying the manhood or human nature assumed at the 
incarnation as the medium or mediator between the other- 
wise invisible and unknown God and his creature man. 
" God was in Christ reconciling [or atoning] the world to 
Himself." With this brief explanation, we now proceed to 



INTO TIIE LIGHT. 69 

the Bible testimony illustrative of the truth of the doctrine 
that the glorified Jesus Christ is the only true God and 
Eternal Life. 

If we can prove from the Scriptures that the same attri- 
butes, powers, and properties are -ascribed to Jesus Christ 
which belong only to the Eternal God, then, upon the 
just acknowledgment that God is One, we may safely 
say that Jesus Christ is The Only Wise God, The Cre- 
ator, The Redeemer, The Regenerator and Saviour, The 
Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent Giver of every 
good, and the Possessor of all those Divine Attributes 
which the sacred volume ascribes unto God Most High. 

We shall now consider the language of Scripture with 
regard to, — 

I. The Creator. 
II. The Redeemer. 

III. The Regenerator. ^ 

I. Who is the Creator? We read : " In the beginning 
God created the heavens and the earth." "In the begin- 
ning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the 
Word was God. All things were made by Him [Christ], 
and without Him was not anything made that was made." 
" He was in the w T orld, and the world was made.by Him." 
And now, beloved, let us look at this testimony. We 
have stated, God is Love ; God is Wisdom : these are the 
two principal attributes which constitute Godhead. By 
these, in the beginning, was the world created. In the 
beginning was the Word. The Word was made flesh. 
Who was made flesh ? Jesus Christ, the living Word. 
All things were made by Him. He, then, is our Creator, 
and He, in consequence, is our God. The Psalmist says 
of the Lord God as Creator, " The heavens are thine ; 
the earth also is thine; as for the world and the fullness 

7 



70 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

thereof, Thou hast founded them." But the apostle says 
of Jesus Christ, "By Him were all things created that 
are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, 
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or 
powers: ^11 things were created by Him and for Him.' 7 
Now, we wish you to reflect more particularly on the 
words, "all things were created by Him and for Him." 
When the angels and glorified spirits of the just are re- 
ferred to as praising God the Creator because of his 
Divine glory, they exclaim, " Thou hast created all things, 
and for thy pleasure they are and were created." At 
what a beautiful illustration of our Bible-Christian doc- 
trine, then, "are we now arrived ! He by ivhom and for 
whom all things were created is God. But all things 
were created by and for Jesus Christ; therefore Jesus 
Christ is God ; and as we have already shown there is 
but one God, so we trust our hearers will see Jesus 
Christ must be the One only God. We will merely refer to 
one more text from each Testament, relating to Creation. 
The Psalmist says of Jehovah, " Of old thou hast laid the 
foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work 
of thy hands." The apostle says, " Christ, in the begin- 
ning, laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens 
are the work of his hands." Comment, here, we deem 
unnecessary.* 

II. Who is The Redeemer? Redemption is a work 
purely Divine ; no created being could redeem man. If 
we turn to our Bibles, we shall find the Psalmist saying, 
" Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord of Truth." Again 
he says, of Israel, "They remembered the High God was 
their Redeemer." In Isaiah we read, " Fear not, — I have 
redeemed thee; thou art mine;" "The year of my Re- 
deemed is come." In his love and in his pity He redeemed 



INTO THE LIGHT. 71 

them and was their Saviour. We find, also, the same 
Almighty Being, the Lord God of Israel, is represented 
as the Saviour of his people. "I, the Lord, am the Holy 
One of Israel, thy Saviour ; I am the Lord, and beside 
me there is no Saviour." From these, and numerous 
other passages which might be cited, it is abundantly 
evident that the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind is the 
Lord God Almighty. But, according to the Gospel, 
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and Saviour; therefore 
He alone is God. " For Jesus will save his people from 
their sins." "This is Christ, the Saviour of the world." 
And Jesus Christ Himself, in order to comfort and en- 
courage his afflicted people, says, " Come unto me, all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and J will give you rest. 
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find 
rest unto your souls." Does it not clearly appear, from 
this, that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and Saviour? 
Is it not evident that none but God could redeem? but if 
Jesus Christ did redeem, must He not be " God over all, 
blessed forever" ? 

III. Who is The Regenerator? The Supreme God is 
also said, in the Old Testament, to be the regenerator of 
mankind. "I will take away the stony heart, and will 
put a new spirit within you, and give you a heart of 
flesh." But in the Gospel Jesus Christ is represented as 
the regenerator of all men. "If any man be in Christ 
Jesus, he is a new creature." "As many as received Him, 
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even 
to them that believe on his name, who are born, not of 
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God." 

We trust our hearers will see, from all these scriptural 
quotations, that Creation, Redemption, Salvation, and 



72 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

Regeneration are described as the work of the Lord (Je- 
hovah) God of Israel. But the operations of Creation, 
Redemption, Salvation, and Regeneration are attributed 
also to Jesus Christ in the Gospel; and as there is but 
One God, it therefore follows that Jesus Christ — if the 
Gospel be true — is the One only God. 

We might proceed according to this order, and show 
from the authority of the Bible that Omnipotence, Omni- 
science, Omnipresence, and Immutability — attributes 
which belong only to the Supreme God — are all ascribed 
to the glorified Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is 
not, however, thought needful, at present, to adduce other 
Bible proofs in relation to these attributes. Suffice it to 
state, we have endeavored briefly to prove that Jesus 
Christ is the One only God of heaven and earth; Our 
Creator, — "All things were made by Him;" Our Re- 
deemer and Saviour; — "There is no other name under 
heaven whereby men can be saved;" Our Regenerator, 
— "He guides us into all truth." As to his Omnipo- 
tence. — "Every knee shall bow to Him, every tongue 
confess that Jesus is the Lord." His eye now rests upon 
us all and searches our hearts. He therefore is Omni- 
scient and Omnipresent; for He is everywhere. We 
may feel his power within us now, nerving our minds to 
this important duty of developing the doctrines of his 
Holy Word, building up the walls of his Zion, strength- 
ening our feeble efforts, and whispering to our souls, 
" Fear not, / am with you ; be not dismayed, I am your 
God: for as I live, to me every knee shall bow, and every 
tongue confess that I am Christ the Lord." In the 
book of Revelation, a glorious being, whom John knew 
to be the Lord Jesus Christ, reveals Himself to this be- 
loved dis.ciple. "And when I saw him," says John, " I fell 
at his feet as dead. And He laid his right hand upon me, 



INTO THE LIGHT. f3 

saying unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last ; 
I am He that liveth and was dead ; and behold I am alive 
for evermore," — or, if correctly and literally translated, 
"The Living One." How magnificent are these declara- 
tions! They convey to the mind, in the most powerful 
manner, the idea of the Supreme, the Sole and Exclusive 
Divinity in Him who utters them. Can anything be be- 
fore the First, or beyond the Last? He, then, who is 
entitled to declare this of Himself must be the All-in-All, 
— the Originator and Sustainer of all things, — the Su- 
preme and Only God, who is from everlasting to everlast- 
ing. But these are the declarations of the glorified Jesus 
Christ, as seen and heard by John in spiritual vision, 
and commanded to be proclaimed to the Church for the 
information of its members from generation to generation. 
Jesus calls Himself, also, " The Alpha and Omega, the 
Beginning and the Ending, who is, and who was, and who 
is to come, — the Almighty." In this language there is an 
obvious assumption of the Attributes of Jehovah. The 
meaning of the word Jehovah is, Was, Is, and Is to Be, — 
i.e., The self-existent God. And when Jesus declares 
He is the Living One, and that He and the Father are 
One, it is nothing less than an assumption of Deity. 
Either, therefore, John was deceived, and Jesus Christ 
deceived him, or Jesus Christ is the very God, the Lord 
of Glory. After a careful study of the Scripture testimony, 
we are fully persuaded there is no medium between treat- 
ing Jesus Christ as an impostor and ivorshiping Him as 
God. If He were not God, He deceived the apostles and 
his primitive followers, and they have deceived us; and 
the Gospel, in such a case, is no other than a cunningly- 
devised fable. But we know, from a long, anxious, and 
prayerful investigation, that Jesus Christ is " The true 

i* 



T4 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

God and Eternal Life," and we can never let go this great 
Bible truth. 

In conclusion: If He who created the universe, and 
who giveth life, perpetual support, and everything useful 
and necessary for the good of all the inhabitants of its 
unnumbered worlds, — if He who from pure love and mercy 
followed man from his fall in all his devious wanderings 
after he turned himself from his Creator to the delusive 
pleasures of sin, and followed him in order that He might 
redeem and save, — is the proper object of worship, then 
that object is the Lord Jesus Christ. Again : If He on 
whose name the primitive Christians called, in whose 
name the apostles and their fellow-laborers baptized the 
nations and performed the miracles which they wrought in 
confirmation of their testimony, into whose hands, in the 
solemn hour of death, they commended their departing 
spirits, and of whom one of them has expressly said, 
" This is the true God and Eternal Life," — if He to 
whom the innumerable company of the heavenly host 
direct their increasing acts of adoration and praise as to 
Him who alone is worthy, is Jesus Christ, then is Jesus 
Christ the only Lord God and our Saviour, — the only 
proper object of Christian worship, adoration, thanks- 
giving, and praise. And to Him, therefore, be glory, now 
and forever. Amen. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 75 



DISCOURSE III. 



ON THE TRINITY. 



I. John v. 7. — " There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, 
the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." 

In two former discourses we have addressed you on the 
Being and Unity of God, and on the Lord Jesus Christ 
as the true God and Eternal Life. We purpose this 
morning to show that the doctrines of the Divine Unity 
and the Divinity of Jesus Christ, together with that of a 
Divine Trinity, are all strictly consistent with the truths 
of Christianity, when the nature of each one is properly 
explained and clearly understood. 

To proceed in this inquiry, however, it appears neces- 
sary to state what the opinions of Christians generally 
are respecting the doctrine of a Divine Trinity, and, as 
far as possible, to ascertain whether these opinions are 
founded in error or in truth. If they are founded in truth, 
they ought to be received with thankfulness and rejoicing; 
but, on the other hand, if in error, they should be rejected 
and banished from our minds. Now, the prevailing doc- 
trine among the various denominations of Christians upon 
this important subject, with one or two exceptions, is, that 
the Divine Trinity consists of three separate and distinct 
Persons, — that each Divine Person is by himself God and 
Lord ; but that these three, although separate and distinct 
from each other, form but One Infinite and Eternal God. 



16 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

In these addresses, our object as Bible-Christians is, not 
to rush on with the tide of popular opinion, nor to receive 
any doctrine of religion upon the mere authority of a 
writer or speaker; we shall investigate this matter, and, 
taking the example of the Bereans of old time, shall 
search diligently the Scriptures to see whether these 
things are so. And whenever we are so fortunate as to 
discover truth, no sinister motives, no considerations on 
earth, should be allowed to stand between us and the 
reception of so precious a treasure. That a Trinity of 
Persons is not scriptural, is, to us, evident from this single 
consideration, that the Bible cannot teach two opposite 
doctrines; and if, as we have already seen, the Bible sets 
forth the Unity of God, it is plain that a plurality of Divine 
Persons is inadmissible. 

It is argued by those in favor of the idea of a Trinity of 
Divine Persons, that the Scriptures reveal the fact. They 
say, " Of the mode of the fact" the Scriptures " offer no 
explanation. And where the Bible is silent, it becomes 
us to be silent also. The fact, and not the manner of it, 
being that which is revealed, is the proper and only object 
of our faith. " There is something of plausibility in this 
mode of arguing, and it is by resorting to such arguments 
as these that so many of the human family have been 
lulled to mental ease, and prevented from examining into 
subjects which are highly important and vitally con- 
nected with their best interests. 

We are repeatedly told that the doctrine of a Trinity of 
Divine Persons is a fact, — and that the Bible reveals this 
fact. We would simply ask, Where ? If one man tells us 
the Bible reveals this fact, and another says it does not 
reveal it, what is to be done in this case? The simple 
assertion of one man is as good as that of another ; both 
are equally to be regarded as mere assertions, which in 



INTO THE LIGHT. 77 

the absence of proof must sink into nothingness. The 
only proper method to pursue in this case, is, to go at 
once to the Bible itself, and see how far the assertion is 
borne out by the truths it reveals. We think we can 
show that this fa,ct, as it is called, respecting three Divine 
Persons in the Godhead, is nowhere declared or revealed 
in the Bible ; and that this doctrine, popular as it is, is 
entirely founded upon inference and assumption ; and if, 
upon investigation, this assumption is found to be wrong 
from beginning to end, the whole fabric built upon it 
must necessarily fall to the ground. It is reasonable to 
suppose that a correct knowledge of God is a matter of 
the highest importance to the believer in Christianity; and 
if it really be & fact that God exists in three Persons, is it 
not reasonable to suppose that this fact would, at least, 
have been mentioned once? — that it would have been 
once directly stated in language that could not have been 
mistaken ? We now speak of the fact, and not of the 
mode ; for if the fact only had been revealed, then there 
would have been a cause for our assenting to it, although 
we did not comprehend the mode. But, upon examination 
of the Sacred Scriptures, we find that they are wholly 
silent as to the existence of this supposed fact; and where 
thev are silent, it becomes us to be silent also. Now, we 
hesitate not to declare that, from the first of Genesis to 
the last of Revelation, there is not one single passage 
which states that in the One God there are three distinct, 
Divine Persons. The whole of this tripersonal doctrine 
is built on assumption — on mere inference and conjecture, 
without a single positive declaration of the Bible for its 
support. But as regards the doctrine of the Divine Unity, 
there is, as we have shown, no want of Scripture evidence. 
Are we not warranted, therefore, in concluding that the 
Lord our God, both in Essence and in Person, is infinitelv 

' I ml 



78 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

and eternally One? Are we not justified in saying that 
the idea of three Divine Persons in the Godhead is not a 
scriptural doctrine ? We proceed to a more particular 
examination of some of those passages supposed to favor 
this doctrine. 

In the very first verse of the book of Genesis some 
commentators imagine there is evidence of a Trinity of 
Persons in the Godhead, because, in the original Hebrew, 
Elohim (God) is said to have created the heavens and the 
earth ; and this word, they contend, is a plural noun, and 
has reference to the three Persons of the Trinity. To 
this it may be answered that, though its termination im 
is similar inform to many plural Hebrew words, yet it is 
always singular in its meaning. Not fewer than two 
thousand five hundred times the verbs and other parts of 
speech dependent on the word Elohim, and which, accord- 
ing to the laws of universal grammar, ought to agree 
with it in number, are invariably in the singular number. 
Besides, Elohim is often used in cases where the most 
devoted advocate of three Persons in the Trinity must 
allow that no trinity, nor even plurality, is referred to. 
It cannot, therefore, be admitted that im forms the plural 
of this word. Many other Hebrew nouns have this termi- 
nation which are confessedly nouns singular: thus, Mit- 
srayiM, Egypt; ShamayiM, heaven; paaniw. gnalpaaniM, 
face to face; teraphiM, an image. The teraphui which 
Michal prepared and put into the bed to represent David 
was simply an image of a man — of one man, and no more. 
The golden calf made for the apostate Israelites by Aaron, 
which was certainly one single thing, is called the Elohim. 
.Dagon, the idol of the Philistines, was named their Elo- 
him, yet the image was one. Moses, who certainly was but 
one person, was declared to be as Elohim before Pharaoh. 
So that if the word Elohim has any reference to a trinity, 



INTO THE LIGHT. 79 

it could be to no other kind of trinity than that which ex- 
isted in Moses, and which, moreover, exists in every indi- 
vidual human being. But again : it is well known to our 
hearers, many passages of the Old Testament are quoted 
or referred to in the Gospel. As an example : " Hear, 
Israel, the Lord thy Elohim [God] is one Lord." But 
this is given by the Lord, and by the Evangelists writing 
by inspiration from him, by the common Greek word for 
God — Theos, which, like the corresponding word in Eng- 
lish, is singular. The same is the case throughout the 
Septuagint, or Greek version of the Old Testament, Elo- 
him being everywhere rendered by Theos. Indeed, the 
most accomplished masters of the Hebrew language — 
many of whom were strongly attached to the tri-personal 
doctrine, including the great reformer Calvin himself — 
have allowed that it is futile to attempt to deduce the doc- 
trine of three Persons in the Trinity from this word Elohim. 
The scholastic definition of the word person is an indi- 
vidual who is a thinking, rational, intelligent being. Ac- 
cording to this definition, only three kinds of beings can 
properly be called persons, — these are men, angels, God. 
Applied to the first of these orders of beings, i.e. men, three 
persons are three men. To the second, three persons are 
three angels. Applied to God, what are three persons? 
Are they not three Gods ? Is it not incomprehensibility 
itself to say that three Divine Persons are but One God? 
Well may they who maintain this proposition have recourse 
to the plea of mystery, — well may they say human reason 
is unable to understand it. But where is the sanction for 
this plea in the Sacred Scriptures? Where is it declared 
that the doctrine of a Trinity is incomprehensible ? 
Where is it affirmed that the Trinity is a mystery? Pro- 
duce one passage, and we will allow such persons to make 
the mystery as mysterious as they please : but they can- 



80 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

not find for it a single text throughout the Bible. The 
key to the Trinity of the Sacred Scriptures, however, will 
shortly be shown to be in the declaration of man's being 
created in the image and likeness of God. Again, v. 26, 
"God said, Let us make man in our image, after our like- 
ness." An eminent tri-personalist writer says, " This is 
the substance of all that can be said on this text, — viz., it 
is a Consultation of God the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost." We reply that consultations are held only 
for one purpose, — that of getting a better idea of a sub- 
ject by the parties laying their heads together than each 
possessed separately : thus, a consultation of physicians 
sometimes takes place usefully for such a purpose ; but we 
know no reason why persons should consult together, 
especially Divine persons, except, indeed, the common 
principle that two heads are better than one. But how 
could such a purpose be applicable to the One Infinite In- 
telligent Being? 

The word let is very improperly introduced into this 
text, because there is no authority for it in the original. 
The word translated let us make is in the first person 
plural, We, — i.e., we will make man in our image. This 
plural pronoun ought always, in Sacred Scripture, to be 
interpreted with the idea of one single Divine Person in 
the Godhead, — particularly if we consider it to refer to 
the fact that the Divine attributes of love, wisdom, and 
power were all exerted in the creation of man. Because 
of this, the plural form, "we will make man in our 
image," is used. It therefore follows, "so God created 
man in hts own image." But to enter into a critical dis- 
quisition on a point or points of Hebrew grammar would 
be out of place here. We therefore come at once to the 
text recorded in Matthew xxviii. 19: "Go ye therefore 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 



INTO TEE LIGHT. SI 

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Here 
the terms Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are supposed to 
mean three distinct persons; but a little attention to our 
Lord Jesus Christ's explanation of these terms will show 
that no such distinct personalities are meant. In John 
xiv. He speaks frequently of the Father, of Himself, and 
of the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of Truth, which He calls 
the Comforter; but He in no part makes the most distant 
allusion to any plurality or distinction of Persons. In one 
of his conversations with his disciples, Jesus says, "If ye 
had known me, ye should have known my Father also ; 
and from henceforth ye know Him aud have seen Him." 
From this we find that a correct knowledge of Jesus Christ 
is indispensable to a knowledge of the Father, and that 
where the one is not obtained the other cannot be: "If 
ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." 
Philip, in answer to these remarks of Jesus Christ, put to 
Him a direct request, saying, " Lord, show us the Father, 
and it sufficeth us." But what was our Lord's reply to 
this? The request, and the Lord's reply to that request, 
must be carefully considered; and if they are, the sup- 
posed distinction of Persons in the Godhead will be dissi- 
pated. Philip's request was, "Show us the Father." The 
Lord's reply was, " Have I been so long time with you, 
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou, 
then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am 
in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that 
I speak unto you /speak not of myself; but the Father that 
dicelleth in me, He doeth the works." Is there anything 
like plurality of Persons found in this reply ? Is not the 
very reverse distinctly declared? Jesus Christ says, em- 
phatically, the Father dweltelh in Him ; and, when speak- 
ing of Himself and the Father, he says, /and the Father 

8 



82 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

are One. In whatever sense the terms Father and Son 
are to be understood, it is clear they do not denote distinc- 
tion nor plurality of Persons; for if distinction and sepa- 
ration be implied, how could the Father dwell in the Sou? 
— how could the Father and the Son be One? But it may 
be said, if Father and Son do not imply plurality of Per- 
sons, what is the meaning of the terms ? This we will 
explain presently. In the mean time, it is sufficient for 
our purpose to show that no plurality of Persons is meant; 
and if this be so, the doctrine of a Trinity of distinct Per- 
sons, so far as this text is concerned, falls to the ground. 

Another passage supposed to favor a Trinity of Persons 
in God is this (Matthew iii. 16, 11) : "Jesus, when He was 
baptized, went up straightway out of the water ; and, lo, 
the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit 
of God descending as a dove, and lighting upon Him: 
and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved 
Son, in whom 1 am well pleased. 77 This passage is thought 
to establish completely the doctrine of a Trinity of three 
Divine Persons ; but, whatever may be the inference drawn 
from this testimony, it is very clear that no separate Per- 
sons are mentioned. The voice from heaven is supposed 
to be the voice of the Father ; admitting this, although 
Jesus says of the Father, "Ye have never heard his voice 
at any time, nor seen his shape, 17 yet, is that any proof of 
distinct Persons ? Not the least ; for what did the voice say ? 
— "This is my beloved Son, in whom /am well pleased. 7 ' 
This is in agreement with what the Lord repeatedly de- 
clares: "I am in the Father, and the Father in me: 
the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works: 77 
11 1 and the Father are one." With respect to the Holy 
Ghost, or Spirit of God, it is supposed to be a distinct Per- 
son from both the Father and the Son ; but the distinct 
personality of the Holy Ghost, or Spirit, can never be 



INTO THE LIGHT. 83 

substantiated, because it is said, "Jesus breathed on his 
disciples, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." The words 
in the original literally mean Holy Breath or Spirit; it 
was this that influenced the apostles, — it was this which 
the Lord required them to receive ; and as this Holy 
Breath, or Spirit, or Influence, came from Jesus, and was 
received by the disciples, we consider this as no small 
proof of the Supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ, and that 
in Him, as the apostle says, "dwelleth all the fullness 
of the Godhead bodily." Does it not clearly appear, then, 
from these scriptures, that nothing more than assump- 
tion can be deduced for the tri-personal doctrine of the 
Trinity? 

Another passage from which the doctrine of a Trinity 
of Divine Persons is sometimes attempted to be inferred, 
is that we have chosen for our text, recorded in I. John v. 
7, where it is thus written: "For there are three that 
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the 
Holy Ghost: and these three are one." Many commen- 
tators, and among others Dr. Adam Clarke, have declared 
this to be a spurious passage; they say it was never 
written by the apostle. We think there are good reasons 
for believing the passage is not spurious, but that it was 
really and originally written by John. Now, assuming 
it to be genuine, in what way does it support a Trinity of 
distinct Persons? There is nothing whatever said of Per- 
sons; and the apparent distinction and separation close 
in the perfect Unit, — " These three are one." If it be 
asked, How are these three one ? we will not evade the 
question by saying, " The fact only, and not the mode, is 
revealed, and therefore we cannot tell ;" but we trust to 
be able to show that the mode as well as the fact is the 
subject of Revelation, and that both declare and set forth 
the Unity of God, in Essence and in Person ; and yet that 



84 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

this doctrine does not militate against the true Bible doc- 
trine of a Divine Trinity. 

When we reflect that in no one instance do the Sacred 
Scriptures declare a Trinity of Divine Persons, and that 
they frequently announce that God is One in person, may 
we not be allowed to say that the doctrine of three Per- 
sons separate and distinct in the Godhead is a groundless 
fallacy and contrary to the testimony of the Bible ? The 
very idea of a Trinity of Persons is incompatible with 
that of a Trinity in Unity. Unity can mean but one,— 
one only. A Trinity, then, of three distinct ones cannot 
be a Trinity in Unity ; it would be a Trinity in Una- 
nimity, — a Trinity of three unanimous Gods acting in 
unison with each other for the accomplishment of a cer- 
tain end. This is the doctrine on this subject, with two 
or three exceptions, of all the various denominations of 
what are called Evangelical Christians; and perhaps there 
is no doctrine that is more fatal to the true interests of 
Christianity. It destroys in the soul the correct idea of 
God, and fills the mind with confusion, mystery, and ab- 
surdity. The doctrine of the Bible, the unerring Book 
of Divine Revelation, respecting the Supreme object of 
Worship, is that He is One. This is the foundation of all 
true religion ; and the humble and sincere worship of this 
Almighty One is the spring of all human joy, the source 
of all spiritual wisdom, and the foundation of all our 
hopes and expectations beyond this transitory scene of 
mundane things. 

We have seen, then, that God is One, in Essence and in 
Person, and that the glorified Lord and Saviour, Jesus 
Christ, is the True God and Eternal Life. We pro- 
ceed to offer a few additional observations, illustrative of 
the sacred doctrine of the Trinity as it is presented in the 
Volume of Inspiration. In making these remarks, it will 



INTO THE LIGHT. 85 

be obvious to our hearers that no denial of a Trinity is 
intended. The question we are discussing is not whether 
the doctrine of a Trinity be true, but whether the Trinity 
implies Trinity of Persons or a Trinity that is to be 
viewed in some other light, — a Trinity of Divine Attri- 
butes. So far as the word Trinity is concerned, the Uni- 
tarians and their brethren, the Universalists, are very for- 
ward to tell us that this word Trinity is not to be found 
in the Bible. This is undeniably true ; but neither is the 
phrase mere man, which they are so fond of applying to 
Jesus Christ, to be found in that sacred book. It is not, 
however, whether the word Trinity be found in the Bible, 
but whether the doctrine conveyed under that term is to 
be therein found ; this is the subject of our inquiry, and 
this is what must be determined. The word Trinity 
simply means three, — not three persons, but THREE ; 
and a Trinity in Unity denotes a triune or threefold order 
existing in one entire whole, both as to appearance and 
form ; this is the kind of Trinity which exists in the 
Divine Being, and it is properly named the Divine Trinity 
in Unity. Every constituent of which this triune is com- 
posed has a distinct name to designate its Divine quality 
and use.; and in the New Testament these names are 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, — these are the three that 
bear record in heaven ; these form the fullness and perfec- 
tion of the One undivided, indivisible, infinite, and eternal 
God. In this Lord God there are three Essential Attri- 
butes : the Father is the Inmost Essential DIVIDE 
SPIRIT, or Divine LOYE, in whom we live, arjd move, 
and have our being ; the Son is the Infinite Human/ 
Spirit, — the Great Wisdom of God, co-extensive with the 
Father; and the Holy Spirit is the Divine Operating and 
Sanctifying Spirit or emanated sphere of the Divine. 
This Triune God is the Great First Cause of all created 

8* 



86 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

life, — is that by which perpetual existence and subsistence 
can alone be kept up. From this primary cause of all 
existence we derive every blessing, temporal and eternal. 
To this cause we can trace all the true joys, the heavenly 
blessings, and the numerous phenomena of life ; the 
plenty and fruitfulness of the earth; the very air we 
breathe, and even the power of breathing it. He is the 
life in all things, the very staff and support of all human 
and angelic existence, and the bread of heaven. 

We cannot fail to see that there is no word in human 
language so well adapted to express the unlimited good- 
ness of this Divine Being as that of Father. He is the 
origin of our existence, the source to which we must all 
look for support, the Father of us all, — Our Father in 
the heavens. The Divine Wisdom, Logos, or Son, is the 
proximate sphere of the Father or Divine Love, and the 
Light and Glory of the Infinite. The Divine Logos, or 
Word, is that by which the Lord God of Israel visited 
and redeemed his people. The Lord, as the Divine Wis- 
dom, manifested Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, 
and therefore Jesus is called the Son of God, in whom 
the Father dwells. When our hearers understand that by 
the term Father is meant the Triune God with respect to 
bis Divine Love, and that by the Son is meant the same 
Being as to his Divine Attribute of Wisdom, and by the 
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, then wiil they perceive 
the force and beauty of the expressions in the Gospel 
where Jesus says, "If ye had known me, ye would have 
known my Father also;" "The Father dwelleth in me;'' 
u The Father, that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works ;" 
"He that seeth me seeth the Father;" U I and the Father 
are one." They will then also clearly understand the 
declarations of the apostles relative to this subject, — "In 
Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead 



IX TO THE LIGHT. 87 

bodily ;" " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto 
Himself ;" " Great is the mystery of Godliness, — God mani- 
fest in the flesh;" "Of his fullness have we all re- 
ceived, and grace for grace." All these will be seen in 
their true light when it is known that the terms Father 
and Son, when applied to God, denote the Love and Wis- 
dom of the one undivided and Eternal God, just as Will 
and Understanding, when applied to finite man, denote 
one mind; or as soul and body constitute one person. 
From these observations, it will be seen that the Trinity 
of the Bible is not a Trinity of separate and distinct Per- 
sons in God, but a Trinity of Essential Attributes as the 
same are revealed to angels and to men. These attributes 
are Love, Wisdom, and Sanctifying Operation, which, in 
the corresponding language of the Sacred Scriptures, are 
called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These are the three 
that bear record in heaven, and these three are One, be- 
cause they form in the complex the fullness and perfection 
of the One Infinite, undivided, and Eternal God. By this 
view of the doctrine of the Trinity, all the passages of 
the Sacred Scriptures relative to it may be understood, 
— those in which the Lord speaks of his inferiority to 
the Father, as well as those in which He speaks of his 
equality and Oneness. Thus, when Jesus says, " My 
Father is greater than 7," we are taught that Divine 
Love, being the inmost of the Divine Nature (like soul in 
man), is superior and comparatively greater than the 
Divine Wisdom, in and by which the Love is ever mani- 
fested and brought forth to light. Again, " The Son can 
do nothing of Himself." This is most true. Neither can 
the Father do anything of Himself; for Divine Love effects 
nothing but by means of Divine Wisdom, and Divine 
Wisdom of itself can effect nothing unless the Divine 
Love, as its soul and energy, gives the power. By thus 



88 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

viewing the great doctrine of the Trinity in the light of 
the Sacred Scriptures, as consisting of a threefold combi- 
nation of Divine Attributes instead of Persons, the whole 
of this supposed mysterious doctrine will be seen as in 
the clearness of the light of a meridian sun ; we shall see 
how the three are One, and realize the blessings of the 
light of Life. Such is the Bible-Christian view of the 
Divine Trinity; and, thus seen, the doctrine forms the 
chief corner-stone in the Christian Church. 

When this glorious truth shall be universally acknowl- 
edged, then will the happy day have come when " the 
knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters 
cover the deep." " In that day there shall be One Lord, 
and his name One." Amen. 



INTO TEE LIGIU. 89 



DISCOURSE IV. 

THE BIBLE A DIVINE REVELATION. 

John vi. 63. 

When we speak of Revelation, we understand the 
supernatural communication of certain spiritual informa- 
tion, given by the Lord to mankind, which they could not 
obtain by any of the common processes of the human un- 
derstanding ; and, yet, with which it was important that 
they should be acquainted. Still, when communicated, it 
was in such a form and nature, that those among men dis- 
posed to believe might see and comprehend it, while others 
desiring to do so might find a plea for their disbelief. 
Religion itself was produced by Revelation ; and man, as 
a religious being, depends on Revelation for the princi- 
ples of his faith and for his very existence. " Where 
there is no vision, the people perish. " Revelation ap- 
pears to have been given before the Scriptures which are 
now extant were revealed. Of this, the Sacred Scrip- 
tures themselves furnish the evidence : they plainly state 
that it was coeval with the first men : " God called their 
name Adam; 11 and there are many instances recorded in 
which He spoke to them, and many precepts and laws 
which He gave them. These Bevelations were to them 
the Word of God. There seems to be a great misappre- 
hension in the religious world, in modern times, on this 
subject. It is a very general impression that a revelation 



90 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

implies a written communication of the Divine Will. But 
the Divine communications imparted to men, when they 
enjoyed communion with God, expressed by God's walk- 
ing in the garden of Eden with them, were as much a 
revelation to them as is the written Word of the Lord to 
us. The state of mankind was indeed more perfect when 
they could receive instruction by this intuitive revelation. 
It was not until man had nearly closed his mind, through 
sin, against the inflowing of intelligence and love from his 
Creator, and had begun in a measure to destroy the per- 
ceptive faculty in his soul, that a ivritten Word was given. 
The state of men in the beginning was not such as to 
require the Word in documentary form. Their minds and 
hearts were clear and pure. They loved goodness with a 
supreme delight, and the genius of love is to rule the whole 
mind and bring its possessor into conjunction with the 
object loved. The first written Revelation was probably 
effected through the instrumentalitv of Enoch, who col- 
lected the principles communicated to men in Paradise, 
and arranged them in doctrinal form ; and this is referred 
to in that remarkable passage which says, " He walked 
with God; and was not; for God took him." By "his 
walking with God," is denoted his co-operation with the 
Divine Providence in the means by which revealed truth 
was to be preserved; and by " he was not " is meant 
that nothing of his mind as an individual, or his character 
as a man, was in the principles of the Divine truths so 
collected, because " God took him," i.e. took him under 
his special guidance and directed him in the performance 
of the work. The name Enoch means to instruct or in- 
itiate. Ancient tradition represents him as the first, author. 
Visions and prophecies are ascribed to him, which he is 
said to have arranged into a book. The Arabians call him 
Edris, — i.e. the learned. The Evangelist Jude, also, evi- 



INTO THE LIGHT. 91 

dently regards him as a prophetical teacher; v. 14, he 
says, "Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied 
of these, saying, ' Behold, the Lord cometh, with ten thou- 
sand of his saints.' " Other scriptures are also mentioned 
in the Bible as having been given to men, under the title 
of the " Wars of Jehovah," " The Book of Jasher," etc., 
which are now lost. When the state of the human mind 
sank so low that those former Revelations ceased to have 
the beneficent and instructive effect of a Revelation to them, 
God, in his Infinite Mercy, condescended to speak to 
Moses and the Prophets, and through them to bestow on 
mankind that Revelation which w r e now possess in the 
pages of the Bible. 

Had not the Lord given a written revelation of Himself, 
man, in his downward course, would have lost all knowl- 
edge of a Supreme Being. We read that even Abraham, 
at the period of his call, had so far lost a correct knowl- 
edge of the true God as to have become an idolater ; Joshua 
reminded the Israelites of this in his last charge to that 
people, and said, " Your fathers dwelt on the other side of 
the flood in old time, even Terah the father of Abraham, 
and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods." 
And when Jehovah, the God of Israel, made Himself known 
to Abraham, it was by the title Shaddai, Almighty, a 
name by w T hich one of his idols was called, and not by his 
name as known in the Adamic or Noachic ages. "I ap- 
peared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," said the Lord to 
Moses, "by the name of El Shaddai, God Almighty, but 
by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." So, 
again, the Israelites, during their continuance in Egypt, 
very generally lost the knowledge of the name, the nature, 
and the very existence of the true God ; this is plain from 
the circumstance that when God appeared to Moses, and 
commissioned him to bring the Israelites out of their 



92 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

captivity unto the promised land, 3foses replied, " Behold, 
when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say 
unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you ; 
and they shall say unto me, What is his name? what 
shall I say unto them?" The same principle holds good 
everywhere, and in all ages. In the heathen world, where 
the Word of God is not known, scarcely any idea, and cer- 
tainly no correct idea, of the Lord exists; and what little 
knowledge is still preserved there, obscure, gross, and sen- 
sual as it is, is the faint glimmering of a revelation proba- 
bly once known there, and handed down by tradition for 
a time, but now lost. It is obvious, then, as our hearers 
will perceive, that one of the great objects of a Revelation 
is to impart to mankind a correct knowledge of God, and, 
therefore, the whole of the Inspired Scriptures revolve on 
this subject. That this is the case is clear from the Lord 
Jesus Christ's declaration to the lawyer, that on the two 
great commandments — " Hear, Israel, the Lord our God 
is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,' 
and with all thy strength ; and thou shalt love thy neigh- 
bor as thyself' — hang all the law and the prophets. The 
testimony of the Apostle Paul, too, is that the all-absorb- 
ing theme of revelation is the development of the existence 
of God, his nature, attributes, and character. In his 
Epistle to the Corinthians he teaches that the Word of the 
Lord consists of the letter and the spirit, and he declares 
the Lord is that spirit (viz., the spirit of the Word of God), 
and then he adds that " we all with open face behold [in 
the Word~\, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord." This 
truth will appear in a still more impressive light, when it 
is further seen that the whole of the Scriptures point 
especially to the great visible manifestation of God in the 
glorified person of Jesus Christ : " Search the Scrip- 



' INTO THE LIGHT. 93 

tures, for in them .ye think ye have eternal life ; and they 
are they that testify of ME ;" " The testimony of Jesus 
is the spirit of prophecy " Thus, then, it is evident that 
both the Sacred Scriptures and enlightened reason concur 
in testifying- to the necessity and existence of a Revelation, 
in order that man may thereby learn to know, to love, and 
to worship and adore the true God, and through love to 
Him, and obedience to his revealed precepts, attain to the 
high destination for which he was created. It is no longer 
a question, therefore, whether a Revelation exists, since 
without it man could not be man ; but the question is 
whether the Bible, which claims to be a Revelation from 
God, is really so. This leads to the important inquiry, 
What is the character of a Revelation ? and in what do its 
sanctity and its divinity consist ? 

In regard to the sanctity and divinity of the inspired 
writings, and in what that sanctity and divinity consist, 
the words of our text plainly declare, " The words that 
I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." This 
Divine declaration extends not only to the words spoken 
by Jesus Christ, as recorded in the New Testament, but 
likewise to what is written in the Old, since both Testa- 
ments are acknowledged to be alike the Word or Speech of 
the Most High, and consequently both must be alike 
replenished with the same Divine principles, called by our 
Redeemer " Spirit and Life." The important question, 
then, is, What are these principles, and in what do 
they consist ? What is this Spirit, and what this Life, 
which constitute the very soul and essence of every 
Word of God ? But who can give a serious and satis- 
factory answer to this question without being forcibly 
impressed with the mental conviction that when a Divine 
Speaker declares, "The words that I speak are spirit, and 
are life/' He must of necessity mean by the terms spirit 

9 



94 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

and life a Divine spirit and a Divine life? because it is im- 
possible to suppose that any other spirit and life, except 
what is Divine, can influence the words of a Divine 
Speaker, so as to constitute their essential properties. 
Who can give a serious and satisfactory answer to these 
questions without being mentally impressed as forcibly 
with another conviction, that the terms spirit and life, 
when applied by a Divine Speaker, involve in them dis- 
tinct Divine principles, so that spirit is to be understood as 
expressive of one Divine principle, and life as expressive 
of another? if not so, the two terms would be a useless 
tautology, altogether unworthy of a Divine Speaker! 
Who, again, cannot discern, as by a mid-day light, that 
spirit and life, according to their distinct signification, 
and as distinctly applied by a Divine Speaker, must of 
necessity mean the same things as Divine Wisdom and 
Divine Love, since we are assured the Godhead is both, — 
" God is Love, God is Light, 17 — and may, therefore, be 
called the Divine union of both in their infinitv and eter- 
nity ? The conclusion, then, at which we arrive is that 
every part of the revealed Word, both of the Old and the 
New Testament, is filled with the Divine Wisdom and 
with the Divine Love of the Lord our God, in indis- 
soluble union, this being its very inmost soul and hidden 
essence, whilst the letter — i.e. its history, its prophecy, 
its poetry and parables — is its external body and mani- 
fested existence. From these considerations, our hearers 
may clearly perceive the sanctity and divinity of the In- 
spired Writings, and in what that sanctity and divinity 
consist. 

But, in pursuing this inquiry, it may be well to define 
a little more distinctly what the Word of God is. In the 
language of the Bible, it is called " The Wisdom of God. 77 
" Therefore also said The Wisdom of God, I will send 



INTO THE LIGHT. 95 

them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall 
slay and persecute." (Luke xi. 49.) It thus appears that 
the Word of God is the Infinite Wisdom of God, brought 
down and accommodated to the perceptions of finite beings. 
That it is Divine, follows as a natural inference from its 
origin; for whatever proceeds immediately from God must 
possess that character. It is the dictated Word, or speech, 
of God. Now, in all speech, whether human or Divine, 
there must be three distinct principles ; for without these 
there can be no speech. These are affection, thought, and 
expression. Speech, therefore, is nothing but the outward 
manifestation or outward expression of the affection and 
the thought of the speaker ; it is a kind of embodying 
of those principles for the purpose of imparting them to 
others. Thus, when a man speaks, he, as it were, em- 
bodies his affections and thoughts in such language as 
is best adapted to convey them to the understandings of 
those with whom he is speaking. So, likewise, when the 
Almighty speaks, He, too, embodies his Divine Affection 
and Thought, or, in other words, his Divine Love and 
Wisdom, in such language as is best adapted to convey 
those Divine principles to the apprehension of his crea- 
tures, whether to angels in heaven or to men upon earth ; 
and such speech or Word is given for their spiritual and 
everlasting instruction in righteousness and true holiness. 
This view of the subject is in harmony with what Jesus 
Christ said, when speaking to his followers, in the lan- 
guage of our text: "The words that I speak unto you, they 
are spirit, and they are life;" for by spirit is evidently to 
be understood his Divine Wisdom, or what He in another 
place calls " the spirit of Truth;" and by Life is as 
plainly meant his Divine Love, since this alone is prop- 
erly life itself. Accordingly, in every part of the Sacred 
Scriptures, this union of Divine Goodness and Truth, or 



96 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

of the Love and Wisdom of God, is observable by the 
spiritually-minded, even in and through its literal ex- 
pressions. Not only does rational investigation conduct 
us to this point, but the Scriptures also affirm the 
same thing. As it respects the Divine expression, it 
appears, by what the Lord says by his prophet (Hosea 
xii. 10), that He has always spoken by a peculiar lan- 
guage, or mode of expression. He there says, "I have 
spoken by the prophets, I have multiplied visions, I have- 
used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets :" thus 
informing us that the language by which the Lord spake 
by u the ministry of the prophets " was that of similitudes, 
analogy, symbol, figure, or correspondence. This language 
of analogy is expressive of the relationship of created 
things to each other, and of all to their Great First Cause. 
That all things in creation have relation to God is 
evident from the fact that all things have their origin in 
Him, and that they were created to carry out or express 
the purposes of his Divine Love and Wisdom, and, as 
means, must necessarily have relation to the end for 
which they were created ; hence his Works in nature are 
often called the elder Scriptures. That all things have 
relation to each other is too obvious to be denied. It is 
strikingly exhibited throughout all creation. We see it in 
the relationship which the mineral kingdom bears to the 
vegetable, and through the vegetable to the animal ; while 
all external objects have relation to man. No one will 
surely suppose that the Word of God is beneath the at- 
tention of his creatures, however exalted their intelli- 
gence may be, or that the wisdom of angels is superior 
to the wisdom of God as revealed in his Word. Angels, 
although existing in a higher sphere, are but "the spirits 
of just men made perfect" Can we imagine, then, that 
angelic beings derive no instruction from the infinite wis- 



INTO THE LIGHT. 97 

dom of the Almighty, as manifested in the revelations He 
has given in his Holy Word? The Scriptures testify that 
the Word of the Lord is in heaven : " Forever, Lord, 
thy Word is settled in the heavens. " That the Word in 
the New Testament is there also, is attested by John the 
Revelator: he says, "I saw another angel, having the 
everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the 
earth." Why should the Word be forever settled in the 
heavens, and the everlasting Gospel be there too, if not 
as a means of instruction to the heavenlv inhabitants? 
If it should be objected that the angels had the Gospel to 
preach to those that dwell on the earth, this rather confirms 
than militates against our position ; for that which is the 
subject of any one's preaching must be the subject of his 
meditation and of his devout study. 

Indeed, the true interpretation of the Gospel must, 
through the disposition or ministry of angels, come to us, 
for it was "an angel" who had "the everlasting Gospel 
to preach unto them that dwell upon the earth." 

The language, then, in which the Word of God is written 
is founded on that relation and mutual dependence which 
are universal both in the spiritual and the natural world. 
No other style of expression could serve as a universal 
medium to communicate the infinite and ineffable wisdom of 
God to finite intelligences so as to adapt it to the peculiar 
degree and state of relationship of each of his finite crea- 
tures to Himself; and no one save the Infinite could really 
employ this language, — because nothing short of Divine 
Wisdom can embrace and comprehend these relationships 
in all their infinitude. Every Divine truth proceeding 
from the Lord descends, as it were, through the heavens 
to men on earth. Such, also, is the nature of the Word of 
the Lord. In its inmost sense it is heavenly ; in its inte- 



98 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

rior sense it is spiritual; in its last or lowest sense it is 
natural, and, to us, in that sense in its fullness and efficacy. 

From what we have said respecting the character of 
the Word, it will naturally be expected that the views of 
Bible- Christians respecting the nature of Inspiration differ 
in some degree from those generally current. It is popu- 
larly believed that the writers of the Scriptures were in- 
spired ; but beyond this all is vague and obscure. The 
divinity and sanctity of the Sacred Scriptures do not con- 
sist in their having been given through inspired men, but 
because they themselves, as well as those through whose 
instrumentality they were revealed, were inspired. 

Inspiration, as the term implies, is an in-breathing : 
the inspiration of the inspired writers consisting in this, 
that " holy men of old wrote" as the in-breathed Spirit of 
the Lord, or rather as the Lord by his Spirit, dictated to 
them. Thus the inspiration of the Word consists in its 
being inspired with God Himself, who is as much present 
in its truths as He was in the Israelitish Tabernacle. He 
as really speaks in the Word now as when He spake it of 
old by the prophets ; and the precepts of the Gospel are 
as fully inspired with the vital Spirit of the Lord at this 
day — and will be to eternity — as they were when they 
fell fresh from the lips of the Saviour. He now speaks 
also to those who are without — i.e. to those whose ideas 
of the Bible are altogether natural — in parables; whilst 
to those who follow Him into the sanctuary of truth "it is 
given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." 
The evidences of the Lord's presence in his Word abound 
in almost every portion of the Sacred History. Whence 
had the ark of the testimony its miraculous power ? 
Why was it that at its presence the waters of the Jor- 
dan receded ? Why fell the walls of Jericho before it ? 
And why was Dagon, the idol of the Philistines, cast 



INTO THE LIGHT. 99 

down ? It was because the Lord, by his Divine Com- 
mandments, was present there. But in what did his 
presence reside? Could it be exclusively inclosed in a 
space two cubits and a half in length and one cubit and a 
half in breadth and the same in height? By no means. 
God is Infinite; He was present in the living truths in- 
scribed by his own direction on the two tables of stone, 
and on which, we are told, hang all the law and the 
prophets. It is the very sanctuary of God, in which He 
can be present w T ith the minds of all his intelligent crea- 
tures, — with angels in heaven by its interior or spiritual 
truths, and with the members of his Church universal on 
earth by its literal expressions ; through this He also 
leads man, so far as he is capable and willing to be led, 
into a perception of its spirit and life ; and it is from this 
interior spirit and life that it is divinely inspired in every 
syllable. The letter of the Sacred Scriptures contains 
within it all the spiritual truths which had been revealed 
to men before the period of its commencement and present 
form ; it is also the continent of other principles, of which 
it is the only exponent. The literal sense of the Bible is 
the ultimate form of all Revelation, — a form suited to the 
wants of the ultimate condition into which the fall has 
brought mankind. In this form of Divine Revelation all 
Divine, heavenly, and spiritual truth is, in its fullness, its 
sanctity, and its power. By this man has consociation 
with angels above, and by this he attains conjunction with 
his Father in the heavens ; and every doctrine of the 
Church, to be truly instructive, must be drawn from the 
literal sense of the Word and confirmed by its testimony. 
From what has beeu advanced, we trust it will be seen 
that the Word of God, like the heavenly ladder seen in 
vision by the patriarch, rests on the earth and reaches to 
heaven, — nay, even to the throne of God. Through the 



100 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

Word, heaven and the future world are opened to us ; by 
it angels are present with us, and heavenly influences are 
brought down to the sincere and devout worshiper in all 
our Sabbath assemblies, in our sacramental elements, and 
at our family altars ; and our prayers and devotions, like 
incense, are borne up, as in angels' hands, to their heavenly 
abodes, where their aspirations mingle with ours, and 
thence ascend to the Only Wise God, our Saviour, — The 
Word that was God, The Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour 
of men. Amen, 



INTO THE LIGHT. 101 



DISCOURSE Y. 

ON CREATION. 

Genesis i. 1. 

The connection between science and religion has ever 
been a subject of deep interest to enlightened and reflect- 
ing minds. Yet, often has the theologian, on the one 
hand, looked with jealousy upon science, as if fearful that 
its influence might be hurtful to the cause of true religion ; 
while, on the other hand, the man of science, in the pride 
of a skeptical spirit, has scorned the idea of an alliance 
between science and theology. Both these opinions are 
erroneous; and they have operated disastrously as well 
upon science as upon religion. The position we take as 
Bible-Christians is, that scientific truth, rightly under- 
stood, is religions truth ; and that religious or Bible truth, 
rightly interpreted, is ever in union and harmony with the 
truths of science. 

The subject of the creation of the world is one on which 
both theologians and philosophers have written largely ; 
and in many cases their opinions are as different, as far 
from harmony, and as wide of the genuine testimony of 
either Creation or Revelation, as are the poles of the 
globe. They have erred, either on the one hand, "through 
not knowing the Scriptures," or on the other, through 
the delusive luminosity of their own imaginary and self- 
derived intelligence. 



102 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

The theologian denies the scientific facts of Geology, 
because it refers the origin of the earth to a higher 
antiquity than, he says, is assigned to it by the Mosaic 
account of creation ; and he considers that this theory un- 
dermines our faith in the inspiration of the Bible, and in 
all the animating prospects of the immortality which it 
unfolds. Here, however, the theologian is obviously wrong, 
because the writings of Moses do not fix the antiquity of 
the globe, nor make any such allusion to it.* 

It is not, however, our purpose to enter into any con- 
troversy relative to the age of the earth, or the successive 
changes it may have undergone previous to the creation 
of mankind. Our purpose is rather to see the order and 
origin of Creation, and to demonstrate the operation of 
an Infinite Intelligence in the production of the world and 
all its parts; and to show that the Creator of the uni- 
verse is at the same time the Creator, the Redeemer, and the 
Regenerator or re-creator of man. A careful study of the 
most ancient portions of Divine Revelation will evidently 
demonstrate that the Almighty from the beginning selected 
a peculiar and symbolic mode of communicating his will 
to mankind; doubtless because He saw it would convey 
most effectually the clearest spiritual ideas in relation to 
his own Essence and operations, and be most powerfully 
adapted to man's mental faculties. The Sacred Scripture, 
or Word of God, therefore, employs the terms by which 
physical objects are expressed, to communicate ideas re- 
specting metaphysical or spiritual existences. The chief 
object of Scripture, however, in the employment of one 
class of natural things is not, as some have supposed, to 

* The putting dates to the Bible, in regard to the era of crea- 
tion, and thus making the present age of our globe about six thou- 
sand years, is altogether gratuitous, conjectural, and arbitrary. 



INTO THE LIGHT, 103 

signify another class of natural things ; but objects exist- 
ing in material creation are selected to symbolize objects 
of a spiritual nature. The spiritual, in the works of the 
Creator, can only be indicated by means of natural or 
material existences ; and it is only as we view the Scrip- 
tures in this light that we are enabled to apprehend the 
first principles to which they point, and so to compre- 
hend their real import or meaning. One of the first prin- 
ciples unfolded in the text recorded at the commencement 
of Divine Revelation, is, that "the heaven and the earth 
were created." This is an idea not found in any other 
ancient writings. Among the Egyptians, Greeks, and 
numerous other heathen nations, the earth was either 
represented as eternal, or it was said that matter was 
eternal, and that by some kind of fortuitous operation the 
particles of eternal matter were so brought together as to 
form the solid earth. The Bible, however, informs us, 
" the heaven and the earth were created," had a begin- 
ning, and that their creator w 7 as God. How sublime and 
important is this first truth of Revelation ! The proper 
mode of viewing the subject of Creation is to regard it 
as an oatbirlh of the Divine mind, — as a production 
essentially distinct from the producing cause, — but yet, 
bearing, through all its parts, to that Infinite Producer 
and to the infinite essential attributes and properties 
existing in Him, a constant and an immutable relation. 
This shows the fallacy of the heathen notion that the 
world is eternal, — self-produced and self-formed, and the 
source of all things ; and it manifestly evinces the ab- 
surdity of another notion, prevalent even among pro- 
fessors of religion, that God formed the universe out of 
nothing. But to create this world out of nothing is an 
absolute impossibility. Nothing is nothing ; out of 
nothing, nothing can be produced. Nothing is not any- 



104 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

thing; and that which is not anything, cannot become 
anything, can have no possible existence. But some may 
be ready to say in support of this nothing hypothesis, 
God is Omnipotent, and He can do all things. He is 
Omnipotent, but He can do nothing inconsistent with his 
own Divine order and nature. 

He cannot do anything that is really sinful ;* and thus, 
also, in a number of instances, God cannot do this or that, 
although Omnipotent. He cannot act in opposition to his 
own Infinite Wisdom and Goodness. 

The question then arises, Whence came matter ? It 
could not be created from nothing; it is not eternal; 
what then can it be but an oatbirth, a creation, or forma- 
tion, from the Divine Creator? God created matter from 
Himself. It cannot be made from nothing. Behold the 
vastness, the boundlessness of Creation, — contemplate the 
immense number of stars, and suns, and worlds, scattered 
throughout the universe, — the wonderful works of the 
Omnipotent hand of the Lord ; formed of different ele- 
ments, and furnished with an indefinite variety of ob- 
jects of various forms, natures, and uses, — look at the 
immensity and magnificence of the universe, and then 
say, if you can, that all these vast orbs, and suns, and 
worlds, and beings were once nothing — that out of 
nothing they w r ere all produced! How inconsistent! 
Nothing always was nothing, and nothing will it always 
remain. 

But, again, Whence came matter? Swedenborg, the 
celebrated philosopher and enlightened theologian, informs 
us, " There are two suns, by which all things were 
created from and by the Lord, — the sun of the Spiritual 

* He doeth all things well: his perfections render wrong-doing 
impossible for Him. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 105 

world, and the sun of the natural world. The sun of the 
spiritual world, from which all things issue as from their 
fountain, is the first of all substance in intense activity, 
proceeding from the Lord God, who is in the midst of it. 
That sun itself is not God, but is from God, and is the 
proximate or primary sphere from Him. It is the first 
proceeding of the Divine Love and Wisdom. The sun of 
the natural world is pure (elementary) fire, and is created 
and produced (through intervening circles of atmospheres) 
from the spiritual sun. From this spiritual sun, as a 
great centre, proceed circles, or atmospheres, around it, 
one after another, even to the last, and where their end is, 
subsiding in rest: these circles are spiritual atmospheres, 
which the light and heat from that sun fill, and by which 
they propagate themselves to the very ultimate circle ; 
and in that last, by means of the preceding atmospheres, 
and afterwards by means of the natural sun and its at- 
mospheres which are emanated from it, the creation of the 
earth was effected. 

" That substances or matters like those on the earth were 
produced from the sun by its atmospheres, is affirmed by 
all those who think that there are perpetual intermedia- 
tions from the first to the last ; and that nothing can 
exist,'but from a prior self, and at length from the First : 
and the First is the sun of the spiritual world; and the 
First of that sun is the Lord. 

"Now, as the atmospheres are the prior things by which 
the sun presents itself in ultimates, and these continually 
decrease in activity and expansion to ultimates (or last), 
it follows that when their activity and expansion c#ase 
in ultimates, they become substances inert, like those on 
the earth. In the substances of which the earth consists, 
there is, indeed, nothing of the Divine in Itself, for they 
are deprived of all that, being the ends or terminations of 

10 



106 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

the atmospheres, whose heat has ended in cold, whose 
light ends in darkness and their activity in inertness; but 
still, the j have brought with them, by continuation from 
the spiritual sun, that which was there from the Divine, 
viz., a sphere from the Lord ; from which, by continuation 
from the (natural) sun, proceeded, by means of the at- 
mospheres, the substances of which the earth consists." 

Thus, according to this philosophy, the proper mode of 
viewing the creation is to regard it as an oulbirth from 
the Great Creator, yet as essentially distinct from the 
Great Producing Cause. 

In the Gospel it is recorded, "The Word was with God, 
and the Word was God ; all things were made by Him." 
Paul further says, " The things which are seen were not 
made of things which do appear." All things that exist, 
in heaven, in the universe, and on earth, exist from the 
infinite love and wisdom of the Lord : these are the only 
essence and source of all things. These form the Divine 
and ever-living sun of heaven, giving heat and light to all 
its glorious and happy inhabitants. This Divine sun is, as 
we have already stated, the proximate sphere of the 
Lord's glory, beaming forth its heat and light to the im- 
mense and boundless worlds above ; — every beam of whose 
heat is Divine Love, and every ray of whose light is Divine 
Wisdom. From this sun of heaven spiritual atmospheres 
are produced, within which angels and the spirits of the 
just and good live; and from this sun, with its spiritual 
atmospheres, — which are no other than the divinely 
emanated sphere of the Lord, proceeding from his essen- 
tial love and wisdom, surrounding, filling, and blessing all 
the heavens with their countless happy inhabitants, — 
from this sun and its spiritual atmospheres all things in 
the spiritual worlds are produced, formed, and have their 
existence ; and from the same source or sphere, proceeding 



INTO THE LIGHT. X07 

farther and farther, as it were, from the great spiritual 
and Divine centre, the natural sun is produced and formed 
as a body of pure elementary fire, the vitality of which is 
that spiritual sphere or creative principle by which it was 
produced, and from which it has its perpetual existence. 
From this natural sun, vivified by a spiritual power from 
the Lord, and thence made active, natural atmospheres are 
formed, which in their proceeding become more and more 
dense and inert, and ultimately form earths and material 
worlds such as exist iu our solar system, derived from 
the sun, and mediately supported by it. In our natural 
sun, in the atmospheres, iu the earth, and, indeed, in all 
nature, there. is a certain spiritual principle of life and 
activity, from the Lord, which is their inmost) life, and 
without which they could not exist one moment Thus, the 
world was made by the Word of the Lord, — his wisdom 
proceeding from his Divine love, forming the sun of the 
spiritual world, the primary sphere of his unutterable 
glory; from this, spiritual atmospheres, as the living sub- 
stance of all substances, "the wheels or circles within 
wheels" of the prophet; thence the sun, the universe, 
worlds and earths were created, exist, and will endure 
forever. 

But although the things which constitute and form this 
natural world are from the Lord only, they are, never- 
theless, not the Lord. This may, perhaps, be illustrated 
and made still plainer from the consideration of the fact 
that there is a certain sphere exhaling from and surround- 
ing every human being, and likewise all animal and vege- 
table existences ; this sphere, in many instances, is pal- 
pable to our bodily senses. Such a sphere emanates from 
every man, yet it is not the man; when passed from him, 
it is void of his life ; and it no otherwise makes one with 
the man, than in that it accords with him, being produced 



108 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

from the peculiarities of his bodily organization, which 
are the forms of his life, or ruling affection. Thus, in the 
substances and materials of which the world consists, 
there is nothing of the Lord in them, although they are 
from the Lord ; they are devoid of all that is Divine, being 
the ends or terminations t)f the spiritual atmospheres pro- 
ceeding from the sun of heaven, in which is the Lord, 
and becoming ultimated through the natural sun and its 
atmospheres. And though the heat of those spheres has 
terminated in cold, their light in darkness, and their act- 
ivity in inertness, there is nevertheless a certain degree 
of heat, light, and activity in and encompassing them 
from the Lord, according to his own Divine order in the 
creation of the universe. 

Among the objects of the visible portions of creation, 
man, the acknowledged image of his Maker, stands in the 
highest degree of relationship to Him, and the inert sub- 
stances of the mineral or inorganic kingdom in the lowest. 
This truth is not invalidated by the fact that this latter, 
according to Geology, came first into existence. It must 
be true that, in the creation of the world, the globe of 
earth and water, or the unorganized parts of its compo- 
sition, though lowest in rank, must have been the first 
that were formed; for this reason, because their uses were 
indispensable to the higher order of existences, to afford 
them nutriment and a basis. Then, doubtless, the vege- 
table kingdom succeeded ; because, without both these, 
animals could not exist. Thus, the higher orders of 
creatures must have appeared by degrees, and last of all 
man ; as he could not begin to exist* till everything neces- 
sary for his use was provided. Still, it was for the sake 
of man that all inferior things were produced: man was 
in the Divine mind throughout the whole process : thus 
everything produced was an image of something that was 



INTO THE LIGHT. 109 

to exist in him, and the spiritual and moral essences of 
all inferior things were concentrated in him ; as he him- 
self was to be an image of the Creator, in whom alone 
exist, in their first principles and Divine essences, all the 
powers, faculties, and virtues which were to exist deriva- 
tively in mankind. The Great Creator, in the work of 
creation, cannot be considered as operating at random, 
producing things which have not in Himself their Divine 
prototypes or germs of being. To produce such things the 
Creator must step out of Himself, which is impossible. As 
the tabernacle, with everjnhing in it which Moses was 
instructed to make, was to be made after the pattern or 
antitype shown to him in the mount, or was to be an out- 
ward type of such things as exist in heaven, so, no doubt, 
when the Lord created heaven and earth, with their 
respective inhabitants, He formed everything after the 
image of Divine prototypes existing in Himself, — after the 
pattern of the ineffable attributes and perfections which 
exist only in his own Divine essence. Thus the whole 
universe, instead of being, as it is sometimes inconsider- 
ately regarded, a production of mere caprice, without 
order, and little better than the offspring of blind chance, 
was unquestionably what may most expressively be 
called an Outbirth of the Divine mind; and, as such, it 
must bear in all its parts an immutable relation to the 
attributes or essential properties which belong to the 
nature of the Omnipotent Creator. 

And now, Christian friends, we trust you will see some- 
thing of the order according to which Worlds were created 
and formed, from and by the Lord, as the one only source 
and substance of all things ; and this in the most im- 
pressive and beautiful light, more especially if you will 
elevate your minds to the Lord our God, whose essence is 
Divine Love and Wisdom ; the inexpressible glory of which 

10* 



110 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

forms the sun of heaven, — the sun of righteousness, — with 
its pure heat and light, — the spheres and atmospheres of 
which heavenly sun the angels and good spirits inhabit; 
and whose spheres, proceeding farther, and becoming more 
dense, produce and form all the substances and materials 
of which suns and worlds are composed ; the spiritual 
power and influence from the Lord giving them respect- 
ively their activity, life, and perpetual existence, and that, 
too, in the most perfect harmony and order, through all 
the varied revolutions of time. 

Our observations have been concise, but, we hope, suffi- 
ciently full to satisfy you that the world is not eternal ; that 
it was not created out of nothing ; — an idea of the grossest 
kind, for out of nothing not anything can possibly come. 

We have endeavored to show that the Lord Himself is 
the alone Creator of all worlds and all beings, — the only 
essence and substance from which all things are ; and we 
may add that creation is perpetual. Our intelligent hear- 
ers will admit that there are, besides our world, suns and 
worlds innumerable scattered throughout the universe. 
The Creator is Infinite; the sun of heaven, or the proxi- 
mate sphere of his love and wisdom, is forever the same, 
forever operating. His creative wisdom and power, there- 
fore, are forever given forth in the same way, according 
to the order we have briefly described, creating and form- 
ing suns, and worlds, and beings in every variety, in 
agreement with his own infinite love and mercy ; that by 
such means He may perpetually elevate and draw towards 
Himself rational, sentient, and immortal beings, to enjoy 
his love and favor, to be happy in his presence, and dwell 
everlastingly in his own immense and immeasurable 
heavens, which can never be filled through all the bound- 
less ages of eternity. 

Let this view of creation sink deep into your minds, 



INTO THE LIGHT. \\\ 

then, beloved, viz., that in wisdom, love, and power, the 
Lord is the creator of all worlds, — that " In the beginning 
He created the heavens and the earth.' 7 Reflect, with 
the deepest humility, the sincerest gratitude, and the most 
ardent affection, that He has created our world, and worlds 
on worlds, and that He will unceasingly create, with this 
most benevolent design, that all we, and countless millions 
like ourselves, should be the recipients of his wisdom and 
rejoice in his love ; and that, after a short existence of trial 
and tribulation in a material world, we may be prepared 
for an elevation into the fullness of heavenly love and light, 
of peace and joy, of felicity and glory in the heavenly man- 
sions of the Lord our God, — in the bosom of his infinite 
goodness, and in that kingdom where we shall forever 
live as heavenly angels, perfect in blessedness. And 
while you are contemplating the wonders of the Lord's 
creative power, remember also the Bible testimony in 
regard to his redeeming love, his saving mercy, and his 
divinely benevolent design in all these operations to 
make you angels of his kingdom. Improve, therefore, 
your brief earthly existence; it will soon end, — we know 
not how soon : shun every known evil, and labor to insure 
the Divine approbation by a life of faith, of love, and of 
obedience to the principles of the Everlasting Gospel : 
elevate your thoughts and affections, your understand- 
ings and hearts, towards heaven, while mercy spares you 
time and opportunity so to do, and while truth points to 
you the way to a glorious immortality : then, that Great 
and only Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour of men, who 
created the heaven and the earth in the beginning, will 
raise your spiritual bodies from this primary state to his 
own eternal kingdom; will constitute you angels there, and 
make you perfectly happy in his love and in his glorious 
presence forever. Amen, 



112 OUT OF THE CLOUDS 



DISCOURSE VI. 

ON THE ORIGINAL STATE OF MAN. 
Genesis i. 

In our last monthly discourse, we endeavored to aid our 
hearers in attaining an apprehension and understanding of 
the Bible testimony regarding Creation, and more particu- 
larly the creation of the world in which we are placed. 
We purpose this morning directing your attention to 
another department of the creative power, and operation 
of the Great Creator of all things in heaven and on earth, as 
the narrative is recorded in the chapter we have just read. 

In order correctly to understand the written documents 
of antiquity, it is necessary to know something of the 
genius of the people among whom, or respecting whom, 
those documents were produced. Without such informa- 
tion, we should be liable to great mistakes. It is known 
that very different styles of writing have prevailed among 
the same nations, at different periods of their existence ; 
and the deeper we penetrate into their mental history, the 
less of what is literal, and the more of parable, of analogy, 
or of poetry, shall we find to have been in their methods 
of expression. This fact is not to be disregarded in prose- 
cuting our inquiry into the original state of man now be- 
fore us. It bears forcibly on the subject. To us it seems 
evident that the Lord, in causing a Revelation to be made 
to mankind of spiritual wisdom and heavenly goodness, 



INTO ' THE LI OH T. 1 1 3 

has at all times had respect to the peculiar genius, tem- 
perament, and leading disposition of the people to whom 
such revelation was vouchsafed. This is clear from what 
are called the Jewish Scriptures. The letter of the Reve- 
lation relating to that people, and of which they were 
made the depositaries, was constructed in the historical 
style in which we find it, in consequence of the remarkable 
mental condition of that singular people, who, as a nation, 
were most external and sensual. Of spiritual things, 
beyond their national rites and religious ceremonies, they 
had generally but little conception ; and because of these 
characteristics, the Revelation, which, in its external form, 
is peculiarly theirs, partook of that historical and worldly 
appearance by which we see it is distinguished. If, then, 
it be true that the literal style of Revelation has always 
assumed a form in conformity with the genius of the peo- 
ple to whom it was first made, — if it be true that the most 
external style of Revelation to be found in the Bible was 
adopted in consequence of the external and sensual condi- 
tion of the Jewish people, to whom it was first committed, 
— then it will follow that the Revelation granted to & prior 
and mentally superior people could not have been of so 
external a character. If the genius of the people among 
whom the early portions of the book of Genesis were pro- 
duced was eminently heavenly, and if the narratives are 
constructed in conformity with such a character, then the 
literal sense of that Revelation ought to be differently 
understood from that given to the descendants of Abram. 
It would be contrary to all just criticism to suppose that 
the literal form of the Revelation granted to a people who 
were acquainted with heavenly subjects and were influ- 
enced by spiritual principles, was the same as that given 
to a community who, generally speaking, were utterly 
ignorant of such things. It is admitted there is a pecu- 



114 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

liarity in several of the first chapters of the book of Gene- 
sis, produced among a people who lived long before the 
time of Abram ; and there is much reason to believe that 
they were revealed in those periods which poets and 
philosophers have spoken of as the Golden Age, — an age 
in which an Oriental people were intelligent on heavenly 
subjects, because they studied interior and spiritual truths, 
and were acquainted with those things among the outer 
existences in nature which were the symbols of such 
truths; an age in which mankind would speak of heavenly 
subjects by means of those objects they knew to be their 
symbols or emblems in the world of nature. 

The minds of mankind, during the purity of the Adamic 
periods, were influenced by very interior, elevated, and 
heavenly sentiments : the affections of their wills were , 
doubtless, directed towards the Lord their Creator, and 
their understandings were enlightened by thoughts con- 
cerning Him and his kingdom. In such an intellectual 
condition, nature, to them, must have been a sort of mir- 
ror, reflecting internal and heavenly ideas. Such minds 
would regard the things of the world by which they were 
surrounded as the symbols of some mental state, — some 
spiritual experience, or heavenly truths, belonging to the 
Lord's kingdom in their souls. This mental state would, 
indeed, enable them to "look through nature up to nature's 
God," and to behold in all its objects the expressive types 
of heavenly realities. To such minds, Creation must have 
afforded a rich display, — a sort of photographic exhibition 
of objects mirroring forth interior and heavenly principles 
relating to the Creator and his kingdom. 

With regard to the Creation and original state of man, 
Revelation informs us that, according to original creation, 
he was distinguished by an internal and an external 
nature; that he was endowed with immortality, and that 



INTO THE LIGHT. 115 

he was placed in a state of responsibility. But what may 
we suppose were his mental and his moral possessions ? 
We can scarcely think of his being created with the expe- 
rience and information which mental exertions and moral 
qualities would seem to imply. His original condition, in 
these respects, could have differed but little, we imagine, 
from those states into which men have since been born. 
He must have been ignorant, but innocent; still, possess- 
ing all the capabilities for having developed the loftiest 
perceptions of wisdom and the holiest principles of love. 
The state which has attended the beginning of man in all 
ages may have been designed to inform us what his con- 
dition was when first originated. Of the process by which 
this was accomplished we have no specific Revelation ; 
but we are told something of the mental characteristics 
that first belonged to man. " The earth " is said to have 
been " without form, and void," to denote that, as to his 
external nature, he was destitute of the order which arises 
from enlightened teaching, and void of that living excel- 
lency which springs out of active goodness. " Darkness " 
also is said to have been " upon the face of the deep," for 
the purpose of declaring to us the ignorance which then 
prevailed upon the perceptive capabilities of the human 
mind. 

Thus it appears that mankind, by original creation, did 
not intuitively possess either the knowledge or the love 
of Divine things. This destitution did not, however, arise 
from the voluntary rejection of those excellencies, as has 
been the case with mankind in after-ages ; but because, 
as yet, they had not been communicated. Man's original 
state, therefore, must have been one of passive innocence 
and mental docility. He was gifted with capacities that 
were afterwards to be developed, and by the cultivation of 
which it was intended that he should attain to the love of 



116 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

his God above all things, and of his neighbor as himself. 
He was created perfect in the degree of his primeval exist- 
ence, but not with the actual possession of those high 
qualifications in which his mental faculties could result. 
The degree was a faculty to become great, but was not 
greatness itself It is this peculiarity which distinguishes 
man from the beast. The beasts were at once endowed 
with all that they were capable of, and so at once were 
beasts ; but man was created with capacities or faculties 
only, to the end that by their proper use and education he 
might knowingly progress in all that is wise and good, 
and so be a man. The perfection of the beast, therefore, 
is its imperfection ; while the deficiencies of man become 
the groundwork of his eminence. How long mankind 
continued in this primeval state there is no historic in- 
formation, nor is it necessary for us to know how long 
or how short was its duration. 

We have stated that the spiritual creation of the human 
principles, or mental capabilities of religious life and ac- 
tions, is treated of in this chapter under the symbolic 
language of a natural creation. The narrative teaches us 
not only the order by which, from being " void" and dark, 
man was successively filled with spiritual principles and 
gifted with intellectual light, but it records a fact which 
distinguished him as an early inhabitant of our world. 
He was actually raised into that spiritual and celestial 
eminence so beautifully and forcibly expressed by being 
made in the image and likeness of God. And now, in 
what sense are we to view this man? Is Adam to be 
considered merely as an individual, or is the term to be 
regarded as comprehending a community ? We maintain 
that the latter, and not the former, is the true idea con- 
nected with this problem ; and we believe this idea to be 
clearly recognized in the very expression Adam (mankind), 



INTO THE LIGHT. 117 

as well as in general statements. Although this part of 
the Bible testimony is probably more allegorical than lit- 
eral in its meaning, yet its language and intimations are 
constructed on the idea of the existence of society, and 
may fairly be referred to as affording evidence upon this 
question, which may be received as important, especially 
by those who insist upon the literal sense as expressing 
all that is meant. There are several circumstances so 
mentioned as to imply the existence of human society 
apart or distinct from that of Adam or his posterity. 
When, according to the common reading of these narra- 
tives, there were only three inhabitants of the earth, we 
find that Cain, after the fratricide he had committed on 
Abel, said, " My punishment is greater than I can bear; 
and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me 
shall slay me." A mark also was set upon him, " lest any 
one finding him should kill him." These statements evi- 
dently imply the existence of society. Why should Cain 
fear every one that found him, if there had been none to 
find him but his parents? Of what use could have been 
the mark set upon him, if there had been but Adam and 
Eve, his father and mother, to see it, and be warned by 
it? They must have known him without such a sign. 
These circumstances show not only that society then ex- 
isted, but also that such society was in a state of civiliza- 
tion so elevated as to be influenced by a moral sentiment 
that could reject and condemn a murderer's crime. But 
there is another fact, equally strong, bearing upon this 
point. When Cain went into the land of Nod, he is said 
to have taken a wife, and built a city, which he named 
after his first-born son, Enoch. 

If there had not been society, where could Cain have 
obtained his wife ? Where could he have procured the 
workmen necessary for such erections as are implied in the 

11 



118 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

building of a city ? Moreover, of what use could have 
been such a city if there had been no society to inhabit it ? 
From these facts it is legitimately to be inferred that a 
people were at that time in existence for whom no rela- 
tionship can be traced to Adam and Eve, and of w 7 hose 
origin we have no history. It clearly teaches that the 
doctrine, popular as it unquestionably now is, that the 
human family is all from that one pair, is not sustained, — 
nay, is absolutely without foundation in the Word of God; 
and we may be permitted to add that science demonstrates 
the utter fallacy of such an idea. 

Now, if there were such a people in no way related to 
Adam, — and of this, after what has been said, we are per- 
suaded there can be no w r ell-founded doubt, — why may not 
the term Adam, w T hich Gesenius and other learned Hebrew 
scholars do not consider as the proper name of the first 
man, but as an appellative referring to the race, and mean- 
ing mankind,— why may not this term Adam mean and 
indicate the existence of a community, an association or a 
Church that had been gradually separated and gathered 
from the general mass of human society, and had asso- 
ciated themselves under those virtues, graces, and excel- 
lencies of character which we have said distinguished the 
people of the Golden Age ? That which is apparently 
predicable of an individual may with equal propriety be 
said of a number of persons; and therefore the narratives 
relating to Adam, instead of being the personal history of 
one man, may be the ecclesiastical or spiritual history of 
a highly cultivated people constituting a Church ; and be- 
cause it is the oldest of which we have any record, it may 
wiih propriety be called the Host Ancient, or the Adamic 
Church. There is surely nothing irrational in this view of 
the matter. But some of our hearers may perhaps feel 



INTO THE LIGHT. 119 

disposed to say, Is there not some more distinct proof of 
sucb an idea ? We think there is ; and that, as we have 
already intimated, it is to be found in the Word itself. 
When the Lord said, "Let us make man," the proposition 
could not refer to the individual, but to the human race. 
Man, or the Hebrew word Adam, is put for mankind, and 
so it is to be taken as expressing that wider sense : this is 
evident, for it is immediately added, " and let them have 
dominion." But the original word, translated man, is 
Adam, and this is thus distinctly asserted to have a col- 
lective signification, for it is written that the Lord " called 
their name Adam in the day when they were created. ' ' 
Both male and female are here specifically meant ; and 
there are many other instances in the Scriptures where 
the term Adam is used in the sense of mankind, or the 
human race in general. And that this is its true import, 
is evident from the circumstance of its never being found 
in the plural form, though there is no grammatical difficulty 
in the way of its being declined by the dual &nd,plural ter- 
minations and the pronominal suffixes. The term Adam 
occurs in the second and third chapters of Genesis no less 
than nineteen times, and in every case it is put with the 
definite article. As then the word Adam is not the actual 
appellation of an individual, but a nominal, expressive of 
the kind or race, it will follow that the term Adam or the 
man in those Scriptures must be received as describing 
the people, the community, the society, the Church, or 
whatever other word may be thought more fitting to 
express the idea of a human association possessing the 
solid acquirements of a genuinely spiritual and heavenly 
religion. 

From what has been said, our hearers will understand 
that while the first chapter of Genesis appears to describe 



120 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

the creation of the world, it also spiritually describes the 
creation and original state of man, and his successive pro- 
gress through the varied conditions of being, until he at- 
tained to the image and likeness of his God ; that is, until 
his understanding became so far receptive of the wisdom 
of his Creator, and his will the recipient of the love and 
purity of the Lord, as to be an image and likeness of the 
Divine Perfections. On account of this receptibility of the 
love and wisdom of the Lord, and of a spiritual and 
heavenly life in obedience to such an influence, he was 
called Adam, or man. We are not men from our mere 
external form. Shakspeare says, " All are not men who 
wear the human forin." But we are men because we pos- 
sess that which no other created beings possess. Beasts 
have no powers above what has been called instinct ; but 
man has mental faculties, — he has a will and an under- 
standing, he has capabilities of affection and science, — 
reason, intelligence, and wisdom: these constitute his 
manhood. The successive developments of character, de- 
scribed in our chapter as Adam, were the progressive 
advancements or regenerations of the original human 
community of a whole people, who lived in some exceed- 
ingly remote period of the past, and who, from the supe- 
riority of their character, their highly cultivated and inno- 
cent minds, constituted what we prefer to call a Church, — 
the Adamic or most Ancient Church, because it is the 
earliest of which we have any revealed or authentic 
records. It will thus be understood that we are men 
because of our mental capabilities. Our moral and in- 
tellectual faculties are bestowed on us, not that we 
may eat and drink as mere animals do, but the grand 
prerogative of our manhood — of those noble capabilities 
and faculties which are spiritual and immortal powers — is 



INTO THE LIGHT. 121 

that we can rise above the things of time and sense ; we 
can direct our minds to the great Creator, — the GRAND 
MAN of the Universe, from whom we become men in the 
degree that we receive his love, his wisdom, and his life, 
and are thus transformed into images and likenesses of the 
Lord our God, — prepared by a process of regeneration to 
live eternally in his kingdom, as happy and glorious angels. 
Amen. 



11* 



122 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 



DISCOURSE VII. 

ON THE POPULAR DOCTRINE OP ORIGINAL SIN. 
Ezekiel xviii. 2. 

a What mean ye that ye use this proverb, saying, that 
the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth 
are set on edge?" 

If the maxim be true, that " The proper study of man- 
kind is man," it is surely a matter of importance that we 
should endeavor to know the real situation of man on his 
becoming an inhabitant of the world, and what are the 
responsibilities resting upon him. It is well known that 
the doctrine of original sin is very generally taught as a 
leading principle in the system of Christianity, and that it is 
popularly admitted as a Bible truth ; but it does not neces- 
sarily follow, because this doctrine has gained an almost 
universal popularity, that it is therefore " the pure milk of the 
Gospel;" for it is equally well known that many doctrines, 
both in religion and philosophy, have been propagated and 
for a time generally admitted as true, which, on a closer 
investigation and a more mature consideration, have been 
discarded as mere phantoms of imagination, and as the 
production of error. Hence a fair and rational inquiry into 
the doctrine of Original Sin is a duty of vast importance ; 
for upon the truth or falsehood of this doctrine will de- 
pend most of our religious exertions, as well as much of 
the nature of our intercourse with the world around us. 



INTO THE LIGHT 123 

In speaking to our hearers on this interesting subject, we 
will first state this doctrine as it is commonly taught and 
generally received, and then proceed to demonstrate its 
utter destitution of truth, and that it has no foundation in 
the religion of the Bible. The generally received doc- 
trine of original sin maintains that Adam, as the first 
man, " was the moral principle of mankind. In the first 
treaty between God and man, Aflam was considered, not 
as a single person, but as the representative of the future 
human family, and contracted for all his descendants by 
ordinary generation; his person was the fountain of theirs, 
and his will the representative of theirs. Hence his vast 
progeny became a party in the covenant, and had a title 
to the benefits contained in it, upon his obedience ; and was 
liable to the curse, with all its fatal consequences, upon 
his violation of it." This is the foundation of the doctrine; 
and hence, as Adam was the confederal head of the whole 
human race, his disobedience and sin do not remain with 
him only, but are imputed to all mankind ; all the families 
of the earth have suffered for the folly and transgression of 
one, and, consequently, the curse denounced on Adam, for 
his single act of folly, is effective on the whole of his pos- 
terity. By the single act of one, all mankind are declared 
to be sinners, and deserving of the wrath and damnation 
of God. The Augsburg Confession of Faith, from which 
all the leading doctrines of the Reformed Church are 
drawn, says, also, concerning Original Siii, " Since the 
fall of Adam, all men are born in sin, which brings dam- 
nation and eternal death upon those who are not regener- 
ated, and that the merit of Christ is the only means whereby 
they are regenerated, — the only remedy by which they are 
restored. That original sin is such a total corruption of 
nature, that there is no spiritual soundness in the powers 
of man, either as to his soul or body : that in spiritual 



124 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

and Divine things which regard salvation, he is like the 
pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned, and like 
a stock or a stone, without life, which have neither the use 
of eyes, mouth, nor any of the senses." Such is the doc- 
trine respecting original sin, as set forth in this orthodox 
and curious work we have referred to, and from which we 
have quoted ; and who can read or hear its sentiments 
without being deeply impressed with horror at its bold 
and presumptuous clauses ? If its teachings be true, the 
Sacred Scriptures, which were given — and mercifully 
given — after the fall of man, to be his rule of life, and 
for his guide to restoration and immortality, can be of 
no manner of use to him. The Scriptures contain the 
strongest and most powerful appeals to the hearts and 
understandings of men that can be imagined ; but where 
is the wisdom of addressing such powerful appeals to 
" pillars of salt" ? Of what avail can sympathy, clothed 
in the most impressive language, be, when directed to 
senseless " stocks and stones"? Why should the Lord 
speak to mankind, who are said to be so dreadfully de- 
praved, so wretchedly polluted at the very core, as to be 
compared to things without life, having neither the use of 
"eyes, mouth, nor any of the senses"? No folly, in our 
estimation, can be compared to this infatuated supposi- 
tion. If man, in regard to spiritual things, be really 
dead, — a mere " stock, stone, or pillar of salt," — so sense- 
less that he can neither move, speak, nor understand, to 
what purpose are all the beautiful and energetic exhorta- 
tions of Divine Revelation made, and to whom are they 
addressed ? Can it be supposed that the Lord, who is in- 
finitely wise, would require the creatures of his hand, as we 
all are, to do such and such things, when He knows that we 
have no power to do them ? And will this infinitely wise 
God punish us for disobedience, when He knows we have 



INTO THE LIGHT. 125 

not the least power to obey ? To teach this doctrine is not 
only dishonorable to God, and prejudicial to mankind, but, 
as Bible-Christians conceive, fatally and desperately wicked. 
And yet, in regard to original sin, the doctrine is deemed 
evangelical orthodoxy. When we are all earnestly called 
on in the Bible to do the work of Repentance, and " put 
away the evil of" our " doings," upon the theory of the 
doctrine of original sin, might we not say, We cannot 
"put away the evil of" our "doings," we cannot do the 
work of Repentance, we are " pillars of salt," devoid of 
all ability to repent? When the Lord says, "Come unto 
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest," we might, with great propriety, say, We 
cannot come, for we have no power ; we are " stocks and 
stones." "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your 
God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto 
her that her warfare is accomplished." We cannot speak, 
for we have no mouth. " Come hither, and hear the words 
of the Lord your God." We cannot come, for we have no 
power ; we cannot hear, for we have no ears. " Look unto 
me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, 
and there is none else." We cannot look, for we have no 
eyes. " Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the 
Lord." We cannot reason, for we have no understanding. 
Now, if the doctrine of original sin were true, might not 
such answers as these, with great propriety and reason- 
ableness, be given to these and all other invitations of 
Scripture ? How can we do, come, look, hear, speak, or 
reason without possessing the needful faculties, and the 
power of using them ? It would be altogether impossible. 
But we do possess these faculties; by the possession of 
these and other mental powers, we, as human beings, are 
distinguished among the various existences which sur- 
round us, and we are endowed with the power of using 



126 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

them ; our very existence and all our actions in life prove 
the fact, and it is in vain for the transgressor to attempt 
to plead a palliation for his life of iniquity, under the idea 
that the lamentable effects of original sin have deprived 
him of all power of doing good, and of co-operating with 
the Lord in the important work of the salvation of his soul. 

But here it may not be inappropriate to ascertain and 
define what sin is; for, unless we know what is to be 
understood hj the term, we may come to very erroneous 
conclusions in regard to it. We may be permitted to say, 
then, that where there is no reason there is no liability to 
sin; nor can any one, compelled by an irresistible power or 
by a sort of fatal necessity to the performance of certain 
actions, thereby commit sin ; for if the action be bad and 
sinful, the sin does not lie in the agent, but in that ir- 
resistible power which compelled, the agent having no 
control over the action. 

It is generally admitted, by all professing Christians, 
that man, mentally considered, is composed of Will and 
Understanding : these two are so united as to make up 
the entire and perfect man. These constitute his man- 
hood. The Will is the seat of all the affections, motives, 
propensities, and desires, and may be said to form his love 
and his life ; the Understanding is the seat of all his 
thoughts, perceptions, and intellectual properties, and con- 
stitutes his rationality, judgment, and power of discrimi- 
nation. No work or action of an individual can be sinful 
unless produced by the joint exertion of both will and un- 
derstanding ; the will prompting to the commission, and 
the understanding examining into the nature of the sug- 
gested action before it is executed. The evil desires and 
propensities of the will are constantly endeavoring to 
break forth into open acts of violence; but the under- 
standing is a restraining power \ given to guard and pro- 



INTO THE LIGHT. 127 

tect man from the dangers and snares into which the 
vitiated desires of his will would lead him ; and while 
the understanding continues to exercise its power of judg- 
ment and discrimination, in its true and proper order, 
under the principles of conscientiousness, no sin can be 
committed. " Sin," says an apostle, " is the transgression 
of" (a known) "law." We must make a careful distinc- 
tion between evils and sins : they are entirely different, 
and if they be carefully denned, distinguished, and ac- 
knowledged, we shall be convinced of the impossibility 
of " man being born in sin." The term evil, as used in 
the Bible/ refers to the vitiated desires and propensities of 
the will; but sin relates to a corrupt state of the under- 
standing, in permitting the evil propensities of the will to 
break forth into actions contrary to the dictates of truth 
and to conscientiousness or justice. Since the fall, man is 
born into the world with evil desires, propensities to evil, 
and with impure inclinations, and these are hereditary, 
that is, are communicated from parents to children ; but 
these are not sins, neither do they condemn before the 
Lord. They have not yet passed the understanding, re- 
ceived its sanction, nor been made the individual's own, 
by the actual commission of crimes contrary to truth and 
conscientiousness marked out by the understanding. 

Bible-Christians, therefore, maintain that no man is 
born in sin. He is born with hereditary propensities to 
evil, derived from a more or less corrupt ancestry; but 
these do not become sins until his rationality or under- 
standing is formed, and he then brings those hereditary 
evils into actual life and practice ; then they are his own, 
then he is a sinner, and then he is accountable. If it be 
still contended that man is born in sin, and if it be also 
true that without repentance sin cannot be forgiven, and 
if it be likewise true, what our Lord savs, "If ve die in 



128 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

your sins, whither I go ye cannot come,'' what, then, be- 
comes of that vast portion of the human family which 
dies in a state of infancy ? It is of no use to evade this 
question by saying we cannot tell, because we can tell, 
and the inference is certain : for if man is born in sin, and 
he dies before he is in a state capable of doing the work 
of repentance, which is the case with all infants, then we 
are forced into the conclusion, however shocking, that all 
who die in infancy are consigned to the dark regions of 
misery and woe. Such a doctrine would surely be one of 
the blackest that ever emanated from the dark and direful 
regions of the bottomless pit. What said our Lord on this 
subject, when He took the dear children in his arms and 
blessed them, saying, "Of such is the kingdom of God"? 
The great doctrine of Bible-Christians in regard to this is, 
that of all the families of the earth those who die in a state 
of infancy, of whatever religion or country, whether the 
offspring of pious or of impious parents, are initiated imme- 
diately, through the instrumentality of angels, into all the 
delights of heavenly joy and angelic wisdom. 

But we will now turn to the testimony of Scripture. 
Perhaps there is no passage in the whole Bible which 
appears to be more favorable to the doctrine of Original 
Sin than this, " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in 
sin did my mother conceive me." This passage is brought 
in on all occasions to prove the doctrine, and* upon this it 
is thought to rest. Bible-Christians want no stronger tes- 
timony than this passage in proof that man is not bom in 
sin. Who can discover from it, that man is born in sin ? 
It is not even remotely declared : the terms iniquity and 
sin are not applied to the child which is here said to be 
shapen and conceived, but to the mother. Thus the pass- 
age says, " Behold, I was shapen" — In what? " in iniquity," 
"and in sin did my mother" — What did she do in sin? 



INTO THE LIGHT. 129 

" conceive me." Thus the literal and obvious meaning of 
this passage is, that the mother was iniquitous when the 
child was shapen, and sinful when the child was con- 
ceived. The terms iniquity and sin do not apply to the 
child at all y but only to the spiritual condition of the 
mother. 

It is a little remarkable that the doctrine of Original 
Sin should be so strenuously insisted on, when there is 
not one single text in the Bible which says or teaches that 
the sin of Adam is communicated to his posterity. It is 
true the Apostle Paul says, " By one man sin entered 
into the world, and death by sin," but here is no mention 
of an actual transferring of the identical sin of Adam 
to his offspring. All that is said we readily admit, viz., 
that by the disobedience of one man sin entered into the 
world ; for disobedience is the cause of sin, and those who 
follow in the path of disobedience become sinners equally 
with their forefathers, and are, consequently, subject to like 
penalties. Those who maintain the doctrine of Original 
Sin, and suppose that the sin of Adam is transferred to 
his posterity, agree readily with the old proverb we have 
selected for our text, " The fathers have eaten sour grapes, 
and the children's teeth are set on edge." But if we turn 
to this chapter, Ezekiel xviii., and examine it carefully, we 
shall find that the Lord, instead of approving, condemns 
the proverb, and, in language that cannot well be mistaken, 
points out the erroneousness of Original Sin, Upon this 
doctrine the prophet writes thus : " The word of the Lord 
came unto me, saying, What mean ye that ye use this 
proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers 
have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on 
edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, behold all souls are 
mine ; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son 
is mine : the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Here we find 

12 



130 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

no mention of the imputation of the sin of one man to 
another, but it is plainly declared that " the soul that sin- 
neth shall die." The very reverse of the doctrine of Original 
Sin is inculcated ; for the prophet, in describing the wicked 
man, says, " Now, lo ! if he beget a son that seeth all his 
father's sins which he hath done, and considereth and 
doeth not such like, he shall not die for the iniquity of 
his father, he shall surely live." Again the Lord saith, 
" The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not 
bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father 
bear the iniquity of the son." How plain is this language 
of the Bible I How clearly is it affirmed that no actual 
sin or transgression of one man can be imputed or trans- 
ferred to another ! Every man's condemnation depends 
upon his own actual sin, — upon his own voluntary and 
internal state and life. 

That man is not born in sin is further obvious from the 
Gospel. We there read, " As Jesus passed by, he saw a 
man who was blind from his birth, and the disciples asked 
him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, 
that he was born blind ?" Our Lord answered their ques- 
tion in a way that totally overthrows the notion of original 
sin. He says, " Neither hath this man sinned, .nor his 
parents ; but that the works of God should be made mani- 
fest in him." And the works of God were literally mani- 
fested in him, by the miraculous bestowing of sight. But 
an appeal is made to the decalogue in support of Original 
Sin. It is there said that the Lord " will visit the iniquities 
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth 
generation." But this in reality gives no sanction nor sup- 
port to the doctrine: it is one thing to visit the iniquities of 
the fathers upon the children, but another to punish the chil- 
dren for the sins of the fathers. The visitation implies the 
power by which the sinful father communicates to his chil- 



INTO THE LIGHT. 131 

dren those evil propensities and impure inclinations which 
reside in the will, — the will of the flesh, — but which never 
do become sins until the understandings of the offspring 
are formed and they bring them into life and practice, in 
opposition to their better judgment and to the known dic- 
tates of truth and conscience : then they become the sins 
of the offspring, and condemnation follows as the neces- 
sary effect of such actual transgression. But this visita- 
tion of the fathers upon the children is not said to be 
made upon all mankind, but only upon a particular class 
of persons, that is, upon those that hate the Lord : u Visit- 
ing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the 
third and fourth generation of them that hate me ;" but 
mercy is to be shown to the thousands of those who love 
the Lord and keep his commandments. 

And now, beloved, may we not conclude that the popu- 
lar doctrine of Original Sin, as commonly taught and be- 
lieved, is a vile error, dishonorable to the goodness and 
love of the Lord our God, whose " tender mercies are over 
all his works 7 ' ? Have we not good reason to conclude 
it has no foundation in the Bible ? Let us turn from the 
dark picture, and listen to the voice of the Lord Himself, 
by his prophet : " Wash you, make you clean : put away 
the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to 
do evil ; learn to do well : then, though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be 
red like crimson, they shall be as wool." These invita- 
tions are not made to " pillars of salt," nor to stocks and 
stones, but to men, — to all mankind, — to rational and in- 
telligent beings, capable of understanding the invitations, 
and of co-operating with the Lord in the great work of 
their salvation. 

The Bible teaches that if we turn our souls to the 
Lord, and remember that " The soul that sinneth, it shall 



132 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

die," — if we strive to do his Holy Will, and rely upon his 
power and goodness, which will accompany us through all 
our days,— if we cease to do evil, and learn to do well, 
then will the Sun of Righteousness gild our declining days 
with mental peace and heavenly tranquillity; and when 
time shall remove us, the voice of our Heavenly Father 
shall gladden each of our joyous souls with, " Well done, 
thou good and faithful servant ; enter thou into the joy of 
thy Lord," Amen, 



INTO THE LIGHT. 133 



DISCOURSE VIII. 

ON THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND ITS TREES. 

Genesis ii. 8, 9. 

In our lecture on the Original State of Man, we en- 
deavored to convince our hearers that the idea so preva- 
lent among religious professors respecting the unity of the 
race, or the whole human family being descendants from 
Adam and Eve, was not sustained by science, nor even by 
the Bible itself when correctly interpreted. We showed 
that the term Adam w T as not the name of an individual, 
the first created man, but a generic term denoting man- 
kind ; and that as used in the book of Genesis it is ex- 
pressive of a religious community, or the first true Church 
among men on earth. The language of our text to all 
appearance describes the first natural garden, — a garden 
that was the result of the Creator's planting ; there are 
also some intimations of its geographical situation, and 
the adjacent features ; but instead of this being the in- 
struction that the text is intended to convey to us, if we 
examine it and other portions of the early chapters of 
Genesis we shall have strong evidence for believing they 
treat of the most Ancient Church, or that our text in par- 
ticular treats of the state of religion among living men, 
and is not to be considered as descriptive of the mere 
vegetable productions of the insensible earth. All that is 
revealed with regard to this first or Adamic Church is 

12* 



134 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

presented to us in the language of poetry rather than of 
history: still, it is a Divine poetry in an historical form. 
There are many acknowledged instances in which Jesus 
Christ has presented spiritual principles to the considera- 
tion of his disciples under the appearance and character 
of fictitious history. His parables are remarkable in- 
stances of this fact. Many, notwithstanding, have believed 
that the beginning of Genesis was real, literal history ; 
that the earth and all the vegetable and animal existences 
were produced in the order and time mentioned ; that there 
was a real earthly garden or paradise, created and formed 
purposely for two individuals to occupy, and in which they 
dwelt till the time when they partook of the forbidden 
fruit ; that this garden was a spot of peculiar beauty and 
of delightful productions, and in every respect was a local- 
ity superior to every other part of the then known world. 
Many have devoted much time in seeking to discover such 
traces of its existence as would enable them to say pre- 
cisely where, or in what particular part of the globe, this 
garden was placed ; but all their study and researches 
have amounted to no more than uncertain conjecture, and 
where the locality of the Garden of Eden was is, literally 
speaking, wholly unknown to the learned. But had those 
persons considered the word of God in its primary and 
true light, — as a book revealing to mankind religious, 
spiritual, and Divine principles, — they would have thought 
less about an earthly garden, embellished with shrubs and 
flowers and fruit-bearing trees, and have given themselves 
less trouble about ascertaining the particular place of its 
existence. The earth was formed for the habitation of 
men, and they who first dwelt on it no doubt occupied 
certain parts of it; and those of whom we have spoken as 
a religious community, under the appellation of Adam or 
the most Ancient Church, whilst they remained in their 



INTO TEE LIGHT. 135 

primitive integrity, were distinguished for their wisdom, 
their love of God and of goodness, and then, with such 
mental virtues, an Eden bloomed around them. All nature, 
even in its external form and appearance, was in agree- 
ment with the internal condition of their minds, and ad- 
ministered external delight and pleasure both to their 
minds and bodily senses, so that it may be justly said the 
whole earth was then a paradise. 

Let us for a moment look at the external world. Is it 
not beautiful in all seasons and in all hours ?— from the 
rising of the sun to the time of its going down ; even in the 
solemn midnight hour, when the moon and the stars assert 
their peaceful reign. This wonderful world, so pleasing to 
the natural sight, in all the plenitude of its beauty and 
magnificence, when religiously considered, is but a type, a 
symbol or shadow of another, a spiritual and interior world, 
—a spiritual universe. In this outer world we perceive there 
is a sun which forms, as it were, its heart and centre, and 
from which, as from a vast fountain, every manifestation 
of beauty and of order proceeds. So also in that other 
inner world there is likewise a sun. But the sun of that 
world is a living sun. It is the proximate sphere of the 
love and wisdom of the Almighty. And the Lord Jesus 
Christ in his glorified manhood, as " God over all, blessed 
forever, " is in the midst of that sun, — the Sun of Right- 
eousness. And He is our Creator, Preserver, and Re- 
deemed—the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and 
the End, the First and the Last, — who is, and who was, 
and who is to come, the Almighty. His government in 
our hearts ever gives the spiritual Garden of Eden, the 
garden of delights to our souls. That this Garden of Eden 
and its trees described in our Bibles were allegorically un- 
derstood, their very names evidently imply. What is a 
tree of life ? Solomon in his book of Proverbs answers, 



136 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

11 Wisdom is a tree of life." And may we not ask, Did 
you ever find life growing on any material or earthly 
tree? Has life more than one source ? and is not the 
glorified Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life, itself? 
Again, do we not find this same Tree of Life, here repre- 
sented as in the midst of the garden, declared in the book 
of Revelation to be in the midst of heaven ? " To him 
that overcometh," it is said, "I will give to eat of the 
Tree of Life, that is in the midst of the paradise of God." 
Once more we find the " Tree of Life " in the midst of the 
New Jerusalem, and on both sides of the river. " In the 
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, 
was there the Tree of Life, which bare twelve manner of 
fruits, and yielded her fruit every month ; and the leaves 
of the tree were for the healing of the nations." The holy 
influence of the Lord, in its twofold character of love and 
light within our minds, is the Tree of Life. This, if we 
are in the way of regeneration, is in the midst of the 
garden in our souls. This is the source of the joys of the 
heavenly inhabitants. This is the centre, and this per- 
vades all the principles of the true Christian Church on 
earth. The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil is equally 
indicative of a spiritual existence ; for on what other tree 
does knowledge grow, save on that of the human mind ? 
And knowledge grows only as we desire to know. The 
knowledge of external things may well be called the knowl- 
edge of good and evil, for it is the knowledge of the 
effects of religion and of irreligion, of order and of disorder, 
of truths and of appearances. This knowledge is a tree that 
has its uses in the garden of the soul, but its fruit is not 
to be eaten. Our own knowledge is good to know and to 
use, but not to eat or confirm, and as it were to make part 
of ourselves. The popular but idle fancy that this tree 
was an apple-tree, cannot be called even a thought : it is 



INTO THE LIGHT 137 

a mere fancy, and wholly devoid of any scriptural or 
rational foundation. The other trees of the garden, that 
are " pleasant to the sight and good for food,". are our per- 
ceptions of heavenly wisdom and love ; and of these we 
may freely eat, — they are in unison with Him who is the 
Truth itself. When we speak of our perceptions, we mean 
a certain interior sensation which the spiritually-minded 
man has from the Lord, enabling him to know as it were 
at once whether a thing be good and true, or the con- 
trary. It is what he calls conscience. A man dead in 
trespasses and sins is devoid of such conscience, and with- 
out this intellectual perception. The Sacred Scripture is 
exceedingly particular in keeping up the distinction be- 
tween these three kinds of trees, — the tree of life, the tree 
of knowledge, and the trees pleasant to the sight and pro- 
ducing fruit for food. Of the fruits of the last-mentioned 
trees, mankind were originally directed freely to eat. 
" Behold, I have given to you every herb bearing seed, 
and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, 
which is upon the face of all the earth ; to you it shall be 
for food." The trees pleasant to the sight and good for 
food, as well as the herb and grain, are said to have been 
on the face or surface of the earth : it is not so said of 
the trees of life and of knowledge. The originally pre- 
scribed food for mankind was herbs, grains, and fruits; 
for a period of more than sixteen hundred years, or to the 
time of the flood, this was the only, the universal food of 
mankind. The Creator and Lawgiver appears to have 
deemed these productions all-sufficient for the nourishment, 
the health and strength, of the human family. An illus- 
trious and learned expounder of the Scriptures, alluding to 
the original food of man, says, " Eating the flesh of animals, 
considered in itself, is something profane; for the people 
of the most ancient time never ate the flesh of any beast 



138 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

or fowl, but only seeds, especially bread made of wheat, also 
the fruits of trees and esculent plants ; to these they added 
milk and what is produced from milk, as butter, etc. To kill 
animals and to eat their flesh was to them unlawful, and 
seemed as something bestial ; they only sought from them 
services and uses; but in succeeding times, when man began 
to grow fierce like a wild beast, yea, fiercer, then first they 
began to kill animals, and to eat their flesh. " They were per- 
mitted so to do, as they are permitted to do every other kind 
of evil, such, for example, as drunkenness and all other carnal 
indulgences. The diet God prescribed for man in Eden, 
He pronounced to be " very good ;" a diet which, from ex- 
perience and observation, we can honestly say is fully 
adapted to our nature, preservative of our health, calcu- 
lated to prolong our days upon earth, to give vigor and 
energy both to our physical and our mental faculties, and, 
as such, is a diet worthy of universal acceptation. 

But we must speak more fully of this Garden of Eden. It 
is evidently regarded in the Sacred Scriptures as a symbol of 
a regenerated, cultivated, and sanctified state of the human 
soul ; it is the emblem of the kingdom or Church of the 
Lord on earth ; it denotes the intelligence and wisdom by 
which this first religious community, or the members of 
the Adamic Church, were favored from the Lord, — the 
love and goodness in which their minds were principled. 
For as a well-planted and properly-cultivated garden is 
not only stored with fruits of every variety, with vegeta- 
bles, grain, and flowers for the use of man, but is, in its 
beautiful aspect, also both pleasing to the eye and delight- 
ful to the mind, so when an individual is truly receptive of in- 
telligence and truth, of love and faith, and of other religious 
and heavenly virtues from the Lord, that individual is then 
spiritually a garden and an Eden ; his life and conduct 
are orderly, beautiful, and useful ; he brings forth and 



INTO THE LIGHT. 13 9 

bears to perfection the pure graces, virtues, and fruits of 
the kingdom of heaven ; he is amiable and pleasing in the 
sight of God, of angels, and of men ; and as the prophet 
Isaiah saith (xli. 3), " He is then made like Eden, and the 
garden of the Lord ; joy and gladness are found in him ; 
thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Thus, beloved, 
have we laid before you what is truly and spiritually 
meant by the Garden of Eden and its trees ; and this fruit- 
ful, useful, beautiful, and happy state was the real, reli- 
gious, and spiritual condition of the religious community 
called Adam, or the most ancient people or Church of 
whom we have any account in the pages of Divine Rev- 
elation. 

From what has been submitted to your calm and Chris- 
tian consideration, we trust that when you think of the 
Garden of Eden you will not only think of the beauties of 
a natural garden, but of the magnificence of what is spirit- 
ual ; that is, of the state of the human mind when truly 
fruitful and useful in all the doctrines, virtues, and graces 
of the Christian life and its heavenly nature. We hope, in 
the tree of life, you will see a symbol of those Divine prin- 
ciples of love to the Lord, and faith in his name and 
Word and Gospel. Such a believer is the blessed one 
whom Jesus Christ calls " a good tree, bringing forth good 
fruit;" he is planted in the Church, in the house of his 
God, by the river of living waters; and in the course of 
Divine Providence he will subsequently be transplanted 
to mansions in the eternal heavens, to flourish there as a 
tree of Paradise, an angel of light, a son of the Lord's 
love, and a happy citizen of his kingdom forever. Our 
fervent prayer is, that your souls may all become Gardens 
of Eden, — gardens of delight; that the Tree of Life, the 
Divine love and faith from the Lord, may dwell in your 
inmost hearts, and transform you into Edens, — gardens of 



140 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

delight, each producing spiritual virtues, heavenly graces, 
and celestial qualities, and that you may be so devoted, 
useful, and amiable in the garden of the Lord as to be duly 
prepared, whenever He sees fit, for being transplanted to 
the Paradise above, — the kingdom of our adorable Lord 
and Saviour, — there everlastingly to enjoy the unutterable 
perfections of that heavenly world as glorified spirits and 
angels throughout the boundless ages of eternity. Amen. 



INTO THE LIGHT, \i\ 



DISCOURSE IX. 

ON THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT, AND THE TEMPTER. 

Genesis ii, 7, iii. 1. 

The subjects we are about to present to the considera- 
tion of our hearers this morning are confessedly some- 
what mysterious, though of the most interesting importance 
to our understanding of the sacred pages. Commentators 
have conceived and published opinions and conjectures on 
the subject of our text, so vague and inconsistent, that 
reasoning and judieious minds have been led to disbelief, 
rather than to a conviction of the truth of the narrative. 
The whole aceount given in the first chapters of Genesis 
is either a simple narration of facts, or it is an allegory. 
If it be an historical relation, its literal meaning should be 
sought out ; if it be an allegory, then is it equally neces- 
sary that we should be acquainted with the facts presented 
in that form of Revelation. The literal interpretation of 
this part of the Bible, as we have shown in our last two 
lectures, has been involved in doubts and difficulties from 
the earliest periods, and the recent developments of phy- 
sical science have tended rather to strengthen these doubts 
and increase these difficulties. The peculiar language ap- 
plied to the tree bearing the forbidden fruit, and called the 
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, shows evidently 
that the record should be looked on as an allegory or 
figurative representation. The learned Jewish Rabbi, 

13 



142 OUT OF TEE CLOUDS: 

Simon bar Abraham, says, " Know that in the trees, 
fountains, and other things of the Garden of Eden, were 
the figures of the most curious things by which Adam (or 
the most Ancient Church) saw and understood spiritual 
principles. " Rabbi Maimonides says that the serpent has 
relation to the mind of man ; and that in the account that 
is given of creation, the ancient Rabbis, from the time of 
Moses, held that these things, reduced to an historical 
form in the first chapters of Genesis, were not to be liter- 
ally understood, but that this was the method by which, 
in ancient times, they instructed the people. The teachers 
of primitive Christianity maintained that the whole ac- 
count was purely allegorical ; and whoever examines the 
Scriptures with care will find that similar instructive 
allegories were used by the sacred penmen throughout 
the Scriptures of the Old and JS T ew Testaments. The 
confessed difficulties in comprehending what is meant by 
the trees of the Garden, though different in kind, are the 
same in principle. Concerning the fruit of the forbidden 
tree, a physical notion has been conceived by many pro- 
fessors of religion as well as by modern commentators ; 
whereas a mental condition of the soul is really meant. 
"Life" and "the knowledge of good and evil" are not 
vegetable productions; they are spiritual and intellectual 
existences. Yet professing teachers of the Bible have 
very generally believed that this forbidden tree was a 
real vegetable production in Eden, having its branches, 
leaves,, and fruit like other trees. What particular kind 
of tree it was, has been a matter of considerable contro- 
versy among the learned literalists: some say it was a 
vine, others the fig-tree, and others again are persuaded 
that it was an apple-tree. Now, does it not seem some- 
thing very extraordinary — something quite out of the 
order and the nature of things — that any mere tree, or the 



INTO THE LIGHT. 143 

fruit of any tree, whether ^gr, apple, or grape, should have 
in its nature the power to make man wise, or to give him 
knowledge and understanding superior to what he had 
before eating any such fruits ? Wisdom and intellectual 
knowledge are not material things ; — they grow not on 
any trees of the vegetable kingdom: they are things of a 
spiritual character, and can only be communicated to man- 
kind in a spiritual way. The very idea of supposing that 
to eat an apple, a Jig, or a bunch of grapes, or indeed any 
other fruit from a tree of the ground, will give wisdom and 
intelligence to man's mind, is a notion so extravagant, so 
out of the order and nature of things, and so contrary 
to the Divine economy, that it is difficult to conceive 
how men of learning and intellectual attainments could 
possibly give way to such a sentiment; more especially 
when, by a little attention to the testimony of the sacred 
pages, they must perceive that though trees are therein 
frequently mentioned, this is always in such a connection 
as to show demonstrably that not material trees, but 
things of an intellectual and spiritual kind, of which trees 
are the outward emblems, are signified by the trees of the 
Bible- Thus, the prophet Isaiah, treating of the Lord's 
people, says, " They shall be called trees of righteous- 
ness;" and in the Gospel it is said, in speaking of the men 
of the Church, "The tree is known by its fruits;" and 
" Ye shall know them by their fruits." Again, " The axe 
must be laid to the root of the trees; every tree which 
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into 
the fire." How plainly is it to be seen, then, that earthly 
trees are not what is here intended to be understood, but 
that the language has reference to men, and what imme- 
diately relates to men ! What, then, are we to understand 
by this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, bearing 
the forbidden fruit, the partaking of which wa$ attended 



144 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

with such serious and lamentable consequences to the 
human race? 

In a former lecture it was shown that the Hebrew term 
Adam was not the name of an individual, the first created 
man of the human race, but that it was a generic term 
literally meaning mankind, or the Lord's first Church on 
earth ; that by the Garden of Eden was denoted or de- 
scribed the religious and spiritual condition of that Church 
and its members, as it regarded their love and faith in the 
Lord, with all the varied and heavenly graces, virtues, and 
other religious and spiritual qualities they then possessed. 
By the tree of life, or lives, it was also shown that by it 
was denoted the Lord in man, and man in the Lord, by 
man's reception of the Divine life and eternal principles 
from the Lord, the Fountain of all life, and of all good- 
ness. And so long as the men of this most Ancient 
Church remained faithful, and were steadfast and im- 
movable in the love and fear of the Lord, they tasted not 
of the forbidden fruit ; all their thoughts and affections 
were directed to the Lord as the Supreme object of their 
adoration ; to Him, and to Him only, they looked for love 
and life, for wisdom and every good ; on Him they affec- 
tionately depended, and in Him they were happy. 

'* Ah ! who their virtues can declare I Who pierce, 
With vision pure, into their secret stores 
Of health, and life, and joy ? The food of man, 
While yet he lived in innocence, and told 
A length of golden years; unfleshed in blood, 
A stranger to the savage arts of modern life." 

How long mankind continued to live in this primeval 
state of innocence and bliss in the Garden of Eden, we are 
not informed : it may have been and doubtless was for a 
long series of years. But in process of time mankind 



INTO THE LIGHT. 145 

began to look to themselves and not wholly to the Lord ; 
to look outwardly instead of inwardly ; to judge by appear- 
ances instead of realities ; to lean on their own under- 
standings and intellectual attainments, their senses and 
their own wills, as they had the capacity to do, being 
created free agents: thus seceding from the Lord, they 
began to conceive their own intelligence and knowledge 
were wholly self-derived, instead of acquiescing in the 
Divine prohibition, as a caution of merciful love and wis- 
dom, warning them that if they preferred the appearances 
of their own knowledge and intelligence to the lessons of 
heavenly intelligence symbolized by the other trees of 
the mental garden, they would descend or fall into a 
carnal state of mind, and thus realize what the apostle 
has said, " To be carnally minded is death, but to be 
spiritually minded is life and peace." The forbidding 
mankind "to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and 
evil" is in reality a Fatherly and merciful spirit of 
caution; pointing out unto them and to us likewise the 
inevitable consequences of slighting the Lord's will and 
wisdom and leaning on their own intelligence, their own 
wills and understandings. It is from this source, even 
in the present age of the Church, that so many now 
reject the love and wisdom of the Lord, and follow the 
dictates of their own carnal hearts, and perish in igno- 
rance and vice. If we turn from the light of heaven, we 
become mentally dark; if we turn from the warmth of 
heavenly love, we become spiritually cold; and if our 
thoughts and affections remain with the lower principles 
of our nature, and will not advance to the higher, we be- 
come selfish and carnal ; and spiritual darkness, coldness, 
and selfishness constitute spiritual death. In the day, in 
the very hour, that we adopt these principles and act from 
them, — that we thus eat or appropriate the products of the 

13* 



146 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

tree of the knowledge of good and evil, — we spiritually die. 
It was thus the most Ancient or Adamic Church died, by 
eating this forbidden fruit. 

But this subject will appear still plainer by considering 
what is meant by the serpent, that creature being said to 
be the medium by which the woman, or, as we have said, 
the most Ancient Church, was tempted to eat of the for- 
bidden fruit. Who or what this serpent was, the religious 
world, with their learned commentators, have ever been 
at a loss satisfactorily to determine. Great difficulties 
have always been experienced in the way of a satisfactory 
understanding of the narrative. We cannot believe in the 
existence of a talking serpent ; we do not think that the 
Creator ever endowed a reptile with the capability of 
reasoning; nor can we conceive that mankind were seduced 
from their integrity by the utterances of a snake. 

There is such a phenomenon as feeling a thing to be 
true, even although there may be difficulties in the way 
of its clear utterance and demonstration. This we call 
perception : and the honest and good heart which loves 
truth for its own sake will often perceive the truth of a 
subject more clearly in its proposition than in the argu- 
ment for its support. Under such perceptions we proceed 
to the examination of the question who or what the ser- 
pent was by which the fall of man was accomplished. 

Serpent, in our language, comes from the Latin word 
serpens, signifying creeper; but the Hebrew term is 
Nachash, and has no relation to the form or motion or 
any external attribute of the serpent : it is a term descrip- 
tive solely of mental properties, being derived from a verb 
signifying to search, to scrutinize closely, to divine or use 
enchantments, to find oat by experiment, and to practice 
augury or divination. The name, therefore, is obviously 
more appropriate in its original application to the propen- 



INTO THE LIGHT. 14f 

sities, the passions, and the principles of the human mind, 
than to a brute or an unintelligent reptile. But it is very 
generally agreed by religious professors that, whatever 
might have been the instrument or agent, the real tempter 
was the devil ; and that for this purpose he crept into, or 
assumed the form and appearance of, a serpent. But no 
devil is even alluded to in the account of the transaction : 
" The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Now, consider- 
ing the subject literally, and remembering the term used 
in the original is expressive of mental properties, we can- 
not admit the idea of a talking and reasoning serpent. 

Dr. Adam Clarke, like other commentators on the pas- 
sage, considers the whole affair as a narrative of facts, 
and, after the use of much Hebrew and Arabic learning, 
arrives at the conclusion that the serpent was not the 
creature meant, but that an orang-outang was the tempter, 
and that the chattering and babbling of which it is now 
capable are the remains of the speech with which it was 
once endowed, and, of course, the evidences of its curse. 
If we considered the record as a narrative of literal facts 
only, we would reject both the serpent and the orang- 
outang, and at once assert the tempter to have been a man. 
The term implies mental properties which are not pos- 
sessed by either of these creatures, but are peculiar to 
mankind. Man alone is endowed with rationality, and 
consequently with speech. In our former lectures we 
traced mankind from their primeval state, declared in the 
Sacred Scriptures to have been of the earth, dark and void ; 
we stated that thus their original condition was the lowest 
degree of human life, and that thence they were gradually 
and successively elevated to the highest degree of human 
excellence by the teaching which they received through 
the voice or Word of the Lord in Eden. That low degree 
of life in which mankind originally stood was doubtless of 



148 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

a sensual nature, though not then of an evil quality ; for 
evil had not yet come into existence. This sensual nature 
is the kind of life into which mankind now first comes, 
though its quality, in consequence of the fall, is now more 
or less tainted with hereditary propensities to evil. As an 
infant, man is the mere creature of sensation ;■ and the life 
of the senses, or sensual principle, is first developed, and 
must be so before the higher degrees of intellectual and 
moral life can be unfolded. To this sensual principle the 
people of the most Ancient or Adamic Church gave the 
name of serpent. This was the allegorical tempter ; and 
by giving heed to the suggestions of this principle in 
themselves they fell : this was the fall of man. After 
the men of the Adamic Church had lived in a state of 
innocence, rectitude, and happiness for a series of ages, — 
how many we are not informed,— they began gradually and 
imperceptibly to recede from their innocence and purity. 
They leaned or reposed on their own wills and under- 
standings, instead of looking only to the Lord ; they 
seceded from the Divine centre of love, of life, of wisdom, 
by indulging and trusting in the gratification of their 
sensual principle in a forbidden or unconstitutional man- 
ner. Thus, self-love and the love of worldly things having 
gained the ascendency over their previous innocency and 
integrity, they ultimately sank into a state of actual evil. 

" The tree of the knowledge of good and evil," therefore, 
implied that they were free agents; they had liberty to do 
good, or to do evil, but they were required for their own 
happiness not to secede from the Lord. They were to 
acknowledge receiving all love, and life, and wisdom from 
Him ; they were to depend upon Him and regard his will 
as their surest guide ; but if they seceded and relied on 
their own wills and understandings, they would assuredly 
know — i.e. experience — evil as well as good. They would 



INTO THE LIGHT. 149 

not only think they were wise and good in themselves, 
but they would descend into self-love, the love of earthly 
things ; thus their intellects would be darkened and their 
wills perverted, and they would sink lower and lower 
into what is sinful, till the evils of a perverted sensual 
principle would hold dominion in their souls. This sen- 
sual principle, then, is what is meant by the Serpent or 
Tempter. And are we not all aware that there are many 
persons who suffer themselves to be so absorbed in sen- 
sual indulgences as to lose all enjoyment and taste for 
everything nobler ? These become altogether sensually- 
minded persons. They prefer earth to heaven, and the 
things of time and sense to those that are eternal. These, 
like Dan in the tribes of Israel, are " serpents in the way." 
Man, however, is formed not by one mental principle only, 
but by many; and he has not lost any of them by the fall: 
that calamity deteriorated their quality and perverted the 
order of their existence, but it obliterated none. 

The Serpent or Tempter which seduced the inhabitants 
of Eden from their innocence and wisdom is the same 
tempter as that by which transgression and guilt have 
since been perpetuated. Man is its exclusive author, and 
not anything or any creature extrinsic to him. To charge 
it on some other being, whether serpent or orang-outang, 
is only another act of self-delusion. 

The "tree of life" is the heavenly life of love and faith 
prevailing in the human soul ; the forbidden fruit is all the 
evil and sin that is opposed to the life of heaven within ; 
the Serpent or Tempter is the sensual and the now de- 
praved principle of our nature : if, therefore, beloved, you 
desire to regain your true Eden, — the Divine favor, and a 
place of unspeakable felicity in the kingdom of heaven, — - 
look unto the Lord alone; give up your will to his will, 
cease from appropriating to life all forbidden fruit, eat of 



150 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

the "tree of life," cultivate a pure and heavenly love 
towards the Lord Jesus Christ, obey his most holy laws, 
and the Eden, the garden of delights above, even the 
" Paradise of God," the heavens of boundless peace and 
joy, will be your blessed portion and inheritance for ever 
and ever. Amen. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 151 



DISCOURSE X. 

bible testimony on abstinence from the flesh of 
animals as food. 

Christian Friends : 

It is with feelings of peculiar pleasure that I meet with 
you on each returning Sabbath in this place, — a house 
which we have consecrated to the worship of Almighty 
God, and in which we have periodically assembled each 
returning Sabbath, for a series of years, to worship and 
honor and magnify his Holy Name. But it is with the 
utmost gratification that I have the pleasure of meeting 
you here to-day, to celebrate once more the anniversary 
of our Church in this the land of our voluntary adoption. 
Twenty-three years ago, a few of us landed at this city, 
strangers, in a strange country, far from those scenes and 
associations that had been dear to us from childhood, and 
widely separated from our relatives and former friends. 
Poor and unknown were we to all whom we beheld around 
us, and there were none from whom we had any especial 
reason to anticipate the sympathies and consolations of 
friendship. We were not, however, discouraged by what 
we beheld, nor cast down by our seemingly disconsolate 
condition. Our motto was, "The Lord will provide.' 7 Like 
Abraham of old, we had left the land of our nativity to 
accomplish an important work. Our purpose was nothing 
less than to introduce principles of religion and knowledge 
among a free people, which we believed to be essential to 



152 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

the happiness of all men here, and indispensable to their 
peace and everlasting salvation hereafter. With such 
ends and purposes in view we crossed the waters of the 
mighty deep ; with such views w r e disembarked on the 
shores of this fertile land ; and the blessing of the Father 
of all Spirits has been on bur every religious effort. Our 
labors, though not attended with that display which some 
Christian professors have experienced, have yet been 
crowned with signal success, and with the Psalmist we 
can truly say, in relation to our progress, "It is the Lord's 
doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." 

It has been customary with us, in commemorating these 
Anniversaries of our Church, to address you on some one 
or more of those peculiar doctrines which we entertain as 
Bible-Christians, and by which we are distinguished from 
other denominations ; and it is my intention, this morning, 
to pursue the same course, and to present to your serious 
and Christian consideration the Scripture Testimony, so 
far as I may be enabled of the Divine Mercy to do so, on 
one of those subjects wherein we deviate, both in theory 
and in practice, from the great body of our Christian 
Brethren. 

You are all aware that the propagation of tenets of a 
peculiar nature, or the adoption of habits that are singular 
or unique, has a tendency to attract the attention of in- 
quisitive minds, and will often lead them to inquire into 
the origin and foundation of such deviations from the pre- 
vailing opinions and practices of men. In these cases it 
is a duty incumbent on the adopters of such peculiarities, 
whether in faith or practice, or in both, to be "always 
ready to give an answer to every man that asketh the 
reason of the hope that is in them." These are precisely, 
the circumstances, then, in which we are placed : we differ 
from others, and should be ready to point out the cause ; 



INTO THE LIGHT. 153 

hence the duty of searching after truth devolves upon us 
imperiously, not only that we may be able to display our 
views with clearness and perspicuity, to the edification of 
our brethren, but also that we ourselves, by our efforts to 
benefit others, may progressively approximate to the per- 
fection of that wisdom which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord. 

As a religious community we have adopted a mode of 
life, in regulating the appetites and fulfilling the physical 
and organic laws of the body, altogether different from the 
practices of other Christian professors. We have long dis- 
continued the habit of feeding on the flesh of butchered 
animals, and have confined ourselves wholly to vegetable 
productions. We have long resisted the allurements of the 
intoxicating bowl, and have been contented to satisfy our 
thirst from the limpid stream. The system of temper- 
ance which we thus religiously practice, furnishes us with 
strength and activity sufficient to support the most labori- 
ous occupations, secures one of the all-important blessings 
of life, — the possession of health, — and qualifies us for the 
enjoyment of a more perfect mode of being and intellectual 
delights than ever falls to the participation of the " wine- 
bibber or the glutton." 

Deeply impressed with the importance of the doctrine 
that " It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine," 
and knowing it to be the duty of a minister of the Word 
of God faithfully to communicate to his congregation 
whatever information he may deem requisite " to build 
them up in the faith," to assist them to understand the 
Divine Record, and to remove every probable objection 
to the truth, the credibility, or the practicability and use- 
fulness of his doctrines, I purpose on this occasion, the 
annual assembly of our Church, with Divine assistance, to 
present you with such a development of the doctrine of 

14 



154 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

the Bible, in relation to abstinence from the flesh of 
animals, as, it is to be hoped, will go far to satisfy you 
of the correctness of a vegetable diet, and of its con- 
sistency with enlightened reason and harmony with the 
laws of our nature, and the plain testimony of the Word 
of God. 

It is not, however, the intention of your speaker to enter 
into any illustration of the subject from anatomical or 
physiological facts, though this might be done very effect- 
ually, if here requisite or proper. Looking on the subject, 
however, in a religious light, we propose to treat it as such, 
and to be guided in our labors by the Sacred Scriptures, 
They are confessedly the foundation of all moral and of all 
religious principle. It is in them we have presented to 
our contemplation an unlimited source of knowledge. In 
them is recorded, for our edification, a Revelation of the 
will of the Almighty. Here we find those Sacred Precepts 
according to which we are commanded to regulate our 
lives, so that we may become the children of God. Here 
we have unfolded to us the astonishing work of Creation, 
and the still more wonderful operation of Redemption and 
Salvation for all that believe. Here also we are taught 
to know aright the nature and Divine attributes of the 
Creator, and the Immortalitv of our own souls. Here is 
presented to us a display of the end of our existence, the 
proper means by which to preserve that existence, and how 
to perpetuate our health, prolong our days, and participate 
in the happiness intended for us by our Maker. To the 
evidence of the sacred pages, therefore, on the proper food 
for sustaining life, in accordance with the will of God, — on 
preserving health and enjoying "a sound mind in a sound 
body,"- — and at the same time on progressively gaining 
more and more of heavenly wisdom, our inquiries will 
this morning be particularly directed. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 155 

At the very commencement of the book of Genesis we 
find this plain and important commandment prominently 
set forth, as one of those laws of direction essential to the 
health and happiness of new-created man : — " Behold, I 
have given to yoa even every herb bearing seed which is 
upon the face of the earth, and every tree in which is the 
fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food." 
This primeval law of Divine Revelation was undoubtedly 
given to direct the families of mankind in the selection of 
their appropriate food. That food, according to the precept, 
was to be wholly vegetable. The productions of the earth 
alone were to be to them for meat. These the Creator of 
all things deemed fully sufficient to sustain his new-formed 
creature, man. And who will presume to be wiser than 
the Omniscient? Were not the regulations of this origi- 
nal Law such as were calculated to preserve the health, 
support the vigor, sustain the power, and secure the phys- 
ical happiness of the human race? Have after-ages ever 
disputed the reality of the enjoyments of the primitive 
race of men, especially whilst they continued in their in- 
tegrity ? Encompassed, as they were, by the lovely scenes 
of Paradise, and guided and influenced by the mild princi- 
ples of this Divine law, whether they contemplated the 
glorious vault of heaven, or their eyes reposed on the 
beautiful verdure of the earth, whether they listened to 
the sweet music of the murmuring brook, or wandered 
in pleasing reflections amid the umbrageous solitude of 
the forest, their enjoyments would doubtless be more in- 
tellectual, more spiritual, and every way superior to any- 
thing experienced in our day by degenerated human nature. 
So entirely have men, in all subsequent times, been per- 
suaded of the truth of this view of the subject, that the 
period has been emphatically denominated the Golden 
Age. 



156 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

" Men of the Golden Age, who fed on fruit, 
Nor. durst with bloody meats their mouths pollute; 
Then birds in airy space might safely move, 
And tim'rous hares on heaths securely rove; 
Nor needed fish the guileful hook to fear, — 
For all was peaceful, and that peace sincere." 

What, then, Christian friends, shall we say more con- 
cerning this original Law, — this first Revelation of the will 
of the Creator of all things, relative to the diet of his crea- 
ture man ? Shall we be justified in concluding that it was 
intended by its all-wise Author to be applicable only to 
Adam, and that merely during his continuance in Para- 
dise ? In so judging we should undoubtedly err ; we 
should be putting a partial construction on the Divine 
Record, when we are most unequivocally assured that the 
" Scriptures are of no private interpretation," but that "all 
Scripture is given for our edification and to make us wise.' 7 
Hence the law we are considering is for us, as well as for 
those to whom it was first given; its principles, whether 
dietetic or spiritual, or both, concern us all, and it is for us 
to apply those principles, according to their fair and reason- 
able interpretation, to the regulation of our lives, the gov- 
ernment of our appetites, and the subjugation of all our 
unhallowed propensities. It appears, indeed, to be an in- 
controvertible fact, that till after the deluge, or for a period 
of over sixteen hundred years, mankind were sustained 
wholly by vegetable food ; it is also clear from the nature 
of the Law, as recorded in the text before us, that man 
was originally intended to live upon vegetables only ; and, 
as no change appears to have been made in the organic 
structure of men's bodies, after the flood, nor any extra- 
ordinary alteration in the vegetable world, to render its 
productions less nutritive than they were before, it is not 
probable that any change was made, or intended to be 



INTO THE LIGHT. 15 7 

made, in the nature of their food. An illustrious expounder 
of the Sacred Scriptures has justly remarked, " Eating the 
flesh of animals, considered in itself, is something pro- 
fane ; for the people of the most ancient time never ate 
the flesh of any beast or fowl, but only seeds, especially 
bread made of wheat, also the fruits o*f trees, esculent 
plants, milk, and what is produced from milk, as butter, 
etc. To kill animals and to eat their flesh was unlawful, 
and seemed as something bestial ; they only sought from 
them services and uses; but in succeeding times, when 
man began to grow fierce like a wild beast, yea, fiercer, then 
first they began to kill animals and to eat their flesh." The 
diet at first prescribed was declared by Infinite Wisdom 
"to be very good," and it would be derogatory to his 
character to suppose He had erred. We cannot otherwise 
believe, therefore, but we are justified in concluding that 
the dietetic principles presented to our consideration, in 
this first law of God to man, are adapted to our nature, 
preservative of our health, calculated to prolong our days 
upon earth, to give vigor and energy both to our physical 
and mental faculties, and are worthy of all acceptation. 

Were we to judge of the opinions of some of our fellow- 
Christians, however, by the manner in which they speak 
and write on this subject, we could come to no other 
conclusion than that our heavenly Father had found it 
necessary to abrogate one of his first laws to mankind as 
imperfect, and had seen good to substitute another in 
its place, of a nature wholly different from the former. 
Strange as it may appear, there are, nevertheless, those 
to be found among professors of Christianity w r ho have 
seemingly thus judged of the ways of the Almighty. 
Professing to believe in Revelation and in the immuta- 
bility of its Author, they yet contend, particularly when 
reasoning in support of the carnivorous habit of feeding on 

14* 



158 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

the mangled bodies of butchered animals, that an error 
of a most serious nature must have been committed 
when man was directed to sustain his physical existence 
by mere vegetable food! "Morbid debility," say they, 
"induced by an often unfriendly state of the atmosphere, 
together with the labor of cultivating the ground, would 
necessarily require a higher and more stimulating nutri- 
ment than the vegetable kingdom could supply." This 
imaginary error is supposed to have been "found out" 
about the time of the deluge, and as soon as God had 
made the momentous discovery, He is represented by them 
as having promulgated a new law, as if in order to coun- 
teract the eifects of the unfortunate error attributed to Him. 
11 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you." 
"Here," say such reasoners, "we have indubitable proof 
that it is now lawful to eat flesh ! Oh, how very gracious 
is our God ! How comforting the information contained 
in this indulgent law! Is it not as plain as language can 
express it that we are here allowed to eat of every moving 
thing that liveth, without any restraining self-denial, or any 
needless mortification of our bodily appetites?" 

We shall not stop to dwell on the inconsistency nor to 
enlarge on the blasphemy of representing the Omniscient 
as capable of erring, or of finding out a mistake in his 
legislation, which had continued undetected by his Infinite 
Wisdom for sixteen hundred years ! But we shall bespeak 
your serious and unbiased attention whilst we inquire a 
little more minutely into the correctness of the generally 
received acceptance of this new law, — this supposed indul- 
gent grant to feed on " every moving thing that liveth." 

In the first place, then, it appears to us evident from the 
history and experience of all ages and of all nations, that 
"every moving thing that liveth" has never been consid- 
ered as fit for meat, by any one class of people on the face 



INTO THE LIGHT. 159 

of the whole earth; even the ferocious cannibal of the 
forest, who would feel no compunction at feeding on the 
flesh of a fellow-mortal, would shrink from the odious 
practice of eating "every moving thing that liveth." True 
it is, mankind, in the aggregate, have treated the animal 
part of creation much after the manner that the poet has 
represented the Mohammedans as treating their Prophet's 
mysterious charge, in relation to a certain portion of the 
swine, that no good Mussulman may taste : 

"With sophistry their sauce they sweeten, 
Till quite from tail to snout 'tis eaten." 

So, one man will eat beef, but not pork, another will eat 
mutton, another fish, another bear's- meat, and perhaps 
another may be found that would not object to a dish of 
frogs or snails : but nowhere can the man be found that 
will eat " every moving thing that liveth." Can we, then, 
reasonably believe that the Maker of all things ever gave 
forth such a precept ? 

In the second place, the commonly accepted interpre- 
tation of this law is not in agreement with the declarations 
of the context: "Flesh ivith the life thereof which is the 
blood thereof, shall ye not eat: for surely your blood of 
your lives will I require ; at the hands of every Beast 
will I require it, as at the hands o/Man." The most in- 
veterate devotee to the habit of flesh-eating will not surely 
contend that God, in this text, commanded men to eat 
flesh, and yet accompanied that precept with a clause in 
which He declares He will require the " blood of your 
lives " for every beast slain. If He had intended us to feed 
on flesh, would He have accompanied the grant with such 
a clause? Would He, as our Creator, have implanted in 
our bosoms a feeling of commiseration so hostile to his 
purpose ? — sympathies so potent for the suffering victim ? 



160 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

Could He intend that we should eat our food with perpet- 
ual compunction and unceasing disquietude ? — that every 
morsel should be purchased with a pang, and every meal 
empoisoned with remorse ? And to increase our consterna- 
tion to the utmost, would He have imperatively declared 
He would require the blood of every slain beast at our 
hands, and have inspired his Prophet to announce unto us 
most solemnly that " he that killeth an ox is as if he slew 
a man" ? Yet all these interrogatories must be admitted 
affirmatively, if God has commanded us to eat " every 
moving thing that liveth." 

To justify the common interpretation of this law, how- 
ever, and to avoid the force of what we have already ad- 
vanced, it is contended, by some who have undertaken to 
comment on the Scriptures, that the term in the Hebrew 
Bible translated beast implies not only an animal, but that 
it is also applied to an uncivilized or ignorant person, or 
to such as were in a state of Gentilism ; in support of which 
they refer us to the Prophet Jonah (chap, iii.), where not 
only the citizens of Nineveh were commanded to repent, 
but even the beasts also were directed, by the proclamation 
of the King, to spread out their hands and cry mightily 
to the Lord! Admitting the propriety of this appeal to 
the Hebrew text ; not disputing, for the present, the cor- 
rectness of the interpretation for which they contend; 
grant it all, — and does it prove that God has here allowed 
man the privilege of feeding on flesh with impunity ? We 
think not. We will appeal in our turn to the import of 
the original, in connection with such facts as will not fail, 
if we are not too sanguine in our conclusions, to convince 
all minds, untrammeled by the traditions of men, or unen- 
slaved by the chains of appetite, that the law under consid- 
eration, as given to Noah, has no reference whatever to 
eating reptiles, snakes, snails, or any other creeping thing 



INTO THE LIGHT. 161 

of an animal nature, all of which are expressly prohibited 
or forbidden in the Levitical code (chap. xi. 41), but that 
it relates wholly to the productions of the vegetable king- 
dom, — that it is only an extension, a fuller illustration, 
a more particular specification of the principles compre- 
hended in God's first law to man. If we were called on to 
give a translation of what is rendered every moving 
thing, we would say, rather, " every creeper." But there 
is a great variety in the kinds of creepers. There are 
vegetable creepers, as well as animal ones. " The Vine," 
says the intelligent author of the " Wonders of Nature and 
Art," " is a noble plant of the reptile or creeping kind." 
Animal creepers, we have already seen, were expressly 
forbidden as articles of food. The creeper of which Noah 
was by this law allowed to eat, was, in our apprehension, 
the vine, or grapes, of every hind, in common, or for food, 
even as they did the green herb, which fruits the antedi- 
luvians had probably used only for sacred or religious 
purposes. In corroboration of this view of the subject, 
and as if designed to prevent any misapprehension as to 
the nature of the creeper meant in this text, it is expressly 
written in the very same chapter that "Noah planted a 
vineyard, that he drank of the wine, and that he was 
satisfied." There is, moreover, a further provision in the 
context of the law, that deserves our notice : by this they 
were mercifully prohibited from using the fruit of these 
creepers when the flesh with the blood — that is, the 
pulp with the juice— had acquired a life or spirit by stand- 
ing together in a crushed state till they had spontaneously 
fermented, and, in consequence of this process, had actu- 
ally become inebriating wine, — alike injurious to the physi- 
cal and the moral life of man. 

Such, my Christian friends, is the plain, unvarnished 
sense of our understanding of the law before us; a sense 



162 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

which neither militates against the wisdom nor the im- 
mutability of God ; a sense in perfect harmony with the 
first dietetic law given to mankind. 

Our views, then, on the subject of a vegetable diet as 
being that regimen designed for man by his Creator, so 
far, at least, as relates to the antediluvian world, or for a 
period of more than sixteen hundred years, are acceded 
to, without disputation, as being correct, and as borne out 
both by the natural and revealed laws of God ; and though 
the supposition has been exceedingly prevalent, particularly 
among modern professors of religion, that the Noachic dis- 
pensation commenced with a grant, or precept, directing 
men to " kill and eat," we trust the exposition of the tes- 
timony we have here given will go far to impress your 
minds, if not fully to convince your understandings, that 
they have " foolishly imagined a vain thing," — that they 
have suffered their judgments to be biased rather by the 
influence of appetite and the power of habit, than their 
minds to be convinced by the testimony deducible from 
the works and the Word of God. In brief, Christian 
fiMends, we think it must be no difficult matter to see that 
the superstructure erected in defense of gratifying an un- 
natural, inhuman, and carnivorous appetite is built on a 
" sandy foundation " and cannot stand; already, in fact, 
it is shaken to its very basis, and in a few more revolving 
years, as the light of moral, physiological, and religious 
truth becomes more general on the subject, it must inevita- 
bly sink into its merited oblivion, and become a mere matter 
of history, at which to wonder. 

We come next to the examination of that part of the 
Sacred Oracles which primarily related to the people of 
Israel. It is a portion of Scripture of deep, and often of 
thrilling, interest to the Christian mind, evincing the Prov- 
idence of God, as exercised over that peculiar people for 



INTO TEE LIGHT. 163 

good; and we are persuaded, with the Divine Blessing, 
you will be led to agree with us, that on the subject of our 
present inquiry there is much also recorded that tends to 
corroborate our principles in relation to diet. 

Among those important commandments promulgated 
by Jehovah from Mount Sinai, for the edification not only 
of the children of Israel, but of generations yet to come, 
there is one with which we shall commence our remarks 
on this part of the Scripture Testimony: "Thou shalt 
not kill " is the precept to which we allude. If we can 
succeed in satisfying you that this has any bearing upon 
the subject under investigation, or that the Great and 
Merciful Author designed it to be understood as extending 
to "the cattle upon a thousand hills," we shall not fear, in 
such case, to persuade you that eating animal food con- 
stituted no part of the Divine Economy with the House of 
Israel. 

But, it will be said, this law is not commonly looked 
upon by the orthodox portion of the community as having 
any reference whatever to the subject of our inquiry; that 
its obvious design was only to prevent the murder of 
human beings, or to deter man from imbruing his hands 
in the blood of his brother ; and that any interpretation 
beyond this must be foreign to the intentions of the Author. 
We will attempt to meet this conclusion by-and-by; in the 
mean time we cannot overlook the fact that the history of all 
nations, in all ages that are gone by, abundantly evinces 
that this precept has had a very inefficacious effect in regu- 
lating and directing the conduct of mankind. Wars have 
existed between man and man, and between nations of 
men. Individuals have been and still are trained up, 
educated, and supported by the public, for the very pur- 
pose of murdering their fellow-beings, and wars and deso- 
lation, blood and carnage, have covered the earth. If we 



164 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

ask of History, where is her Babylon, if we inquire, 
where is Persepolis, where is Phoenicia, Tyre, Sidon, Jeru- 
salem, Thebes, or Athens, we shall be answered, they 
are desolated by the sword. Where the remnants of their 
glory ? Wasted by the ravages of an invading army. The 
sword has devoured them. Even the very w 7 eeds that 
wantonly spring up around their ruins, owe their luxuri- 
ance to the blood of their murdered citizens. In a state 
of war, this precept, and indeed every similar institution 
of God, are entirely superseded by the murderous declara- 
tions of man. Theft is no longer stealing. Killing, in such 
case, is not murder. In national warfare it is declared 
to be just and honorable to plunder and to kill, and he who 
proves to be the most barbarous and successful acquires 
the greatest share of renown. What, then, is the influence 
which the commandment before us has had in staying man 
from murder ? The poet has given us a powerful, eloquent, 
and just picture of man's reckless disregard of this Divine 
Law : 

"'Twas man himself 
Brought Death into the world : and man himself 
Gave keenness to his darts, quickened his pace, 
And multiplied destruction on mankind. 
With joy Ambition saw, and soon improved 
The execrable deed. 'Twas not enough 
By subtle fraud to snatch a single life : — 
Puny impiety ! Whole kingdoms fell 
To sate the lust of power: more horrid still, 
The foulest stain and scandal of our nature 
Became its boast. One murder made a villain ; 
Millions a hero. Warriors were privileged 
To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime !" 

But, to come again to the import of this commandment. 
What certainty have we, Christian friends, that not to kill 
men is the only true and proper sense, morally speaking, 
in which it ought to be understood ? It is certain they 



INTO THE LIGHT, 165 

could not eat flesh without killing*. You will observe that 
the language of the precept, however, is altogether indefi- 
nite. " Thou shalt riot kill" — what ? Who has authority 
or presumption to limit this precept to killing men ? Is it 
not recollected by my hearers that we are peremptorily en- 
joined "not to add to the law, nor yet diminish aught from 
it" ? May we not reasonably believe that its application 
was benevolently intended to reach the animal creation ? 
" The cattle upon a thousand hills are mine," saith Jehovah, 
"and not even a single sparrow falleth to the ground with- 
out the knojvledge of your heavenly Father." Would not 
the principles of mercy and the sympathies of the human 
heart lead our judgments to such a conclusion ? For our 
own part, we believe most sincerely that this law was en- 
graven not only on the table of stone on Mount Sinai, but 
that the finger of God has written it also on our hearts ; 
hence that there exists within us, whilst uncorrupted by 
the world, a repugnancy to killing animals, and also an 
aversion to feeding on their flesh ! Had God intended us 
so to live, He would not have imparted the milk of kind- 
ness to our bosoms. He always adapts his means to his 
ends. He would rather have filled us with unfeeling 
ferocity, — given us hearts incapable of humanity, of sym- 
pathy or mercy, and armed us, as He has done the hyena 
or the tiger, with fangs and claws, to lacerate and tear, 
without remorse or compunction, the palpitating limbs of 
agonizing life. 

" Ah ! then refrain the blood of beasts to spill, 
And, till you can create, forbear to kill ! 
Unthinking man ! renounce that horrid knife, 
Nor dare to take for food a creature s life." 

But we rest not here alone. We pass on to the con- 
sideration of other facts, recorded in the history of this 
remarkable people, — facts which, in our apprehension, 

15 



166 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

evince in the most unequivocal manner that it has been 
the will of the Author of our nature at all times that his 
creatures should derive their subsistence from the produc- 
tions of the vegetable kingdom, and that they should not 
imbrue their hands in the blood of innocent creatures for 
food. It is recorded in the Bible that while this people 
were sojourning in the Wilderness they were daily fed, by 
the bounty of their heavenly Father, with manna, and 
that this display of his providential and paternal care was 
exercised over them for forty years in succession ; nor did 
the manna cease to fall till the people began to eat of the 
fruits of the Promised Land. It will not be denied that 
the same Omnipotence, exercised in the continuous pro- 
duction of the manna, had it pleased the Divine Being so 
to employ his power, could have furnished, with equal 
facility, flesh for his people in the Wilderness. But it 
was obviously the will of the Great Furnisher that his 
people should be sustained by bread. " Behold," says He, 
"J will rain bread from heaven for you ; and the people 
shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I 
may prove them, whether they will walk according to my 
law or no." In what way could Jehovah have given a 
plainer indication of his intentions respecting the food of 
this his peculiar people ? 

The Land of Promise was presented to the Israelites as 
a land flowing with milk and honey,— a land of wheat, 
barley, figs, pomegranates, and other rich vegetable pro- 
ductions, without even once mentioning any kind of animal 
food, or depicting the country as adapted to the purposes of 
grazing, with the view of fattening cattle. The promises 
made to them as the blessings of obedience were "the 
dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth ;" and it is, 
my Christian friends, an important and remarkable fact, 
though neither generally known nor acknowledged, that 



INTO THE LIGHT. 1<61 

whenever Jehovah prescribes or appoints a diet for man- 
kind He never mentions the flesh of animals as constituting 
any part of that which "is good for food." We would wish 
you, Christian friends, to particularly note, — we say, pre- 
scribes or appoints. We are not here speaking of what He 
permits a sinful nation to do. He appointeth one thing, 
and yet, under certain circumstances, He permitteth another 
that is opposed to his appointment. We will illustrate our 
meaning. He appointed, from the beginning, " that man 
should leave his father and his mother, and should cleave 
unto his wife, so that they twain should become intimately 
one ;" but, "because of the hardness of their hearts," a law 
was given by Moses permitting the Israelites to put away 
their wives, by giving them a writ of divorcement. He 
appointed from the beginning that mankind should live on 
vegetable food alone; but when the people of Israel, in their 
disobedience to God's will, and in the wickedness of their 
hearts, lasted for flesh, and longed to return to the flesh- 
pots of Egypt, He permitted them to eat flesh ; and this 
permission, the Bible tells us, was extended not merely for 
one day, or two days, but for a whole month. And now 
mark the dreadful consequences resulting from the per- 
mission of this disobedient people to gratify their sinful 
desires : " While the flesh was yet between their teeth, 
ere it was chewed, the judgment of the Lord was against 
the people, and they were afflicted with a great plague." 
So great, indeed, was the fatal effect of this transgres- 
sion, that the place was subsequently denominated " the 
sepulchre of the lusters." These instances of Scripture 
Testimony will enable you to understand our meaning in 
relation to the appointments of Jehovah in contradistinc- 
tion to the permissions of his Providence. We repeat the 
observation, then, hoping we are now understood, that 
whenever Jehovah prescribes or appoints a diet for his 



168 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

people, that diet is always vegetable, without any admix- 
ture of the flesh of animals. " He maketh the grass to 
grow for the cattle, and the green herb for the use of 
man." The writer of the book of Ecclesiasticus (xxxix. 26), 
in describing those few things that are requisite for man's 
welfare, says, " The principal things for the whole use of 
man's life are water, fire, iron, and salt, flour of wheat, 
honey, milk, and the blood of the grape, and oil and 
clothing." There can be no reasonable doubt but that 
such was the light in which the subject w T as viewed by 
the faithful among the ancient Israelites. The refresh- 
ments David received at different times, for the support 
of himself and his six hundred faithful followers, from 
Abigail, from Ziba and Barzillai, and likewise what was 
brought to him at Hebron, indicate very decidedly that 
such was the case. The provisions furnished on the vari- 
ous occasions I have named consisted of bread and wine, 
wheat and barley, and flour of each kind, beans, lentils, 
parched corn, raisins, summer fruits, dried figs, honey, 
butter of kine and cheese of sheep, and oil. These were 
furnished in quantities sufficient to supply David and his 
army. The testimony of Judith (chap xi.), though not 
considered canonical, is yet admitted to have such claims 
to authenticity as to give importance to whatever is found 
in that ancient record. Judith, then, declares most un- 
equivocally that the flesh of animals was expressly for- 
bidden to the Israelitish nation. In her interview with 
Holofernes she says, " Our nation shall not be punished, 
neither can the sword prevail against them, except they 
sin against their God. But they have determined to lay 
hands upon their cattle, and purposed to consume all 
those things that God hath forbidden them to eat by his 
laws!" Such were the declarations of one of the most 
eminent and pious females of the Jewish nation in her day. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 169 

And can any one presume to doubt her apprehension of 
the nature and extent of the Divine prohibitions ? 

The noble example of Daniel and his companions, who. 
refused to eat the meat from the king's table and to drink 
the wine, and who solicited pulse to eat and water to 
drink, is also strongly corroborative of our views. It 
appears, indeed, from the narrative of the facts as recorded 
in the first chapter of his Prophecy, that vegetable food is 
not only the most nutritive, — " for their countenances were 
fairer and fatter in flesh than all those that ate the portion 
of the king's meat," — but that it contributes exceedingly to 
strengthening the intellectual faculties of man ; for " in all 
matters of wisdom and understanding they were found by 
the king ten times better than all the magicians and 
astrologers that were in his realm." In a work published 
by Paxton, entitled " Illustrations of Scripture," the author 
declares that the ancient Jews, like the modern Hindoos, 
abstained entirely from the use of flesh ; and the justly 
celebrated Dr. Lightfoot informs us that even in the davs 
of Jesus Christ, the Pharisees taught that it was unlawful 
to eat flesh or to drink wine. 

Before proceeding to the evidence of the Gospel on the 
subject of our inquiry, we propose briefly to meet one or 
two of the many and various objections that will probably 
be brought forward in opposition to this system of absti- 
nence from the flesh of animals, which we are feebly at- 
tempting to advocate. The first we shall notice is one that 
has the appearance of much plausibility: it is founded on 
the distinction between clean and unclean animals as 
described in the Levitical Law. We apprehend the nature 
of the distinction in that law has been generally misunder- 
stood. The prohibitions there given are respecting the 
animals that give milk not fit for the use of man. In con- 
sequence of such animals not ruminating, their milk is crude 

15* 



HO OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

and unwholesome : hence they were not to be touched in 
the operation of milking, nor should they be domesticated 
for such a purpose. Strange as it may appear to men of 
our times, it is nevertheless an important truth, in relation 
to the people of Israel, that the milk and the fleece were 
the principal objects for which herds and flocks were kept 
by them and the Patriarchs who preceded them. Hence 
it is that we find a charge delivered by Solomon to this 
end : " Take heed that thou have goat's milk enough for 
thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the main- 
tenance of thy maidens. 7 ' Paul also reiterated the like 
sentiment: "Who," says he, "planteth a vineyard, and 
eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock, 
and eateth not of the milk of the flock ?" 

My hearers will doubtless remember that we read in the 
Bible of a law having been given to man, almost immedi- 
ately after his creation, prohibiting him from "eating of 
the tree of knowledge of good and evil ;" from which we at 
once infer, without any difficulty of apprehension, that he 
was not to eat of the fruit of that interdicted tree. Now, 
we understand and interpret this law rightly, and that for 
this very simple reason, — we have not been accustomed 
either to eat wood or the branches of trees, or to see our 
fellow-beings doing so. But when we read of certain 
animals being allowed and others interdicted, we do not so 
clearly see, nor with such facility understand, that we are 
thereby prohibited from eating, or are allowed to eat, their 
fruit or produce, — that is to say, their milk. The cause of 
this " slowness of heart to believe," and unwillingness to 
admit the force of this important truth, is obvious. In the 
present depraved state of human appetite and human feel- 
ing, we behold mankind everywhere around us, like so 
many beasts of prey, tearing and devouring with the 
greatest avidity the mangled limbs of butchered animals; 



INTO THE LIGHT. 1*71 

but had we been placed in community with the Brahmins 
of Hindostan, and imbibed from infancy their mild and 
humane principles, we should never have believed our- 
selves tolerated, by the recorded distinction between the 
clean and unclean in the Levitical Law, to feed on the 
bodies of a portion of animated existence. For it is un- 
questionably true that as in the case of " the tree of knowl- 
edge" the fruit of the tree was meant, so in that of the 
allowed and forbidden animals the milk of the clean was 
allowed, but that of the unclean interdicted. 

Were it here requisite, or if time permitted, we might 
reason in a similar manner in relation to those animated 
existences comprehended in the law that do not come 
within the limits of the preceding remarks ; but our time 
will not allow us to go into all the details of the matter. 
Reasons, however, equally potent, and consistent with our 
views of the vegetable character of the aliment of the 
human species, can readily be assigned for all the distinc- 
tions enumerated. 

Another objection will probably be raised on the misap- 
prehended testimony of the Bible respecting the sacrificial 
worship of the Jews. It will perhaps be contended that 
the Jews, by the command of Jehovah, offered animals 
in sacrifice, and ate of their religious offerings. We are 
ready to admit that they offered sacrifices, and ate of that 
which was thus consecrated. But we have a few remarks 
which forcibly tend, if we are not much mistaken, to show 
that flesh-eating can derive no sanction from the Bible 
account of sacrifices, especially when we are willing to listen 
to a rational and consistent interpretation of these Jewish 
ceremonies. Every one will be apt, on the first thought, 
to wonder how so horrible a rite — an ordinance so re- 
pugnant to some of the finest and strongest feelings of 
human nature — as that of sacrificing innocent animals, 



H2 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

could ever have been tolerated among mankind, and es- 
pecially by the then most civilized portion of them, for a 
single moment ; much more, how it could have been so 
extensively and constantly practiced among the various 
nations of antiquity, as history seems to indicate was the 
fact. We are of the number of those who do not believe 
that the Israelites, in their integrity, ever offered living 
animals in sacrifice, or that Jehovah commanded any such 
rituals ; and we think our principles are borne out by 
Scripture testimony. A satisfactory theory of the origin 
and nature of sacrificial worship is among the great de- 
siderata of modern religious science ; and surely it must be 
agreeable to every intelligent and candid mind to contem- 
plate so curious a subject in a light which invites and 
gratifies the understanding rather than excites feelings of 
horror. To enter fully, however, into inquiries necessary 
to such an investigation would require a volume of itself; 
a mere sketch, chiefly for the purpose of supporting our 
statements, is all that we can here offer. 

We will first see what the Scriptures say in relation to 
animal sacrifices being commanded by Jehovah. I need 
scarcely say the prevailing opinion upon this subject is 
that they were instituted by Divine Appointment. But 
David says, " Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I 
give it; thoudelightestr?o£ in burnt-offerings; the sacrifices 
of God are a broken spirit : a broken and a contrite heart, 
O God, thou wilt not despise." The Prophet Hosea repre- 
sents Jehovah as saying, " I desired mercy, and not sacri- 
fice, and the knowledge of God, rather than burnt- offer- 
ings." So also in Jeremiah, " I spake not unto your fathers, 
nor commanded them, in that day I brought them out of 
the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings and sacri- 
fices ; but this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my 
voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people ; 



INTO THE LIGHT. 173 

and walk ye in the ways that I have commanded you, that 
it may be well with you." Here we infer that animal 
sacrifices were not of Divine appointment ; on the contrary, 
as a portion of the fruits of their wickedness and hostility 
to the Divine Will, it is emphatically declared, " I gave 
them also statutes that were not good, and judgments by 
which they ought not to live." In other words, he permitted 
these statutes and rituals because of the hardness of their 
hearts. 

Authority equally perspicuous is susceptible of being 
produced in proof that the Jews, during their faithfulness 
to the commandments of their God, did not sacrifice liviDg 
animals in their worship, — did not imbrue their hands, nor 
stain their altars, with the blood of innocent beasts. Let 
us simply consider the Bible account of the dedication of 
the Temple ; let us view r the narrative, not according to 
our prejudices, but in the light of impartial reason, and, 
after maturely reflecting on all the circumstances, let us 
solemnly ask ourselves whether popular opinion on this 
subject can possibly be right. Who can tell us how one 
hundred and twenty thousand sheep and twenty-two thou- 
sand oxen could possibly be butchered and burned in one 
day in the Temple then just built by Solomon ? Who can 
tell us how such a number of animals could all be con- 
sumed on an altar of small dimensions, made of wood and 
overlaid with thin plates of metal ? Whence came all 
these sheep and oxen, and the fuel necessary for the con- 
sumption of their bodies ? The very act of numbering 
the animals mentioned here as given by King Solomon at 
this consecration, at the rate of one hundred and twenty 
each minute, would occupy full nineteen hours and three- 
quarters I How, then, w^e inquire, could they all be sac- 
rificed and consumed in a single day ? Again, what kind 
of conceptions must those persons have respecting the 



174 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

Great Jehovah, who seem seriously to believe that He was 
delighted with the sacrificing of sheep and oxen, and 
fancy that the stench of burnt flesh was a sweet-smelling 
savor in his nostrils? Who can conceive that the mag- 
nificent structure raised by Solomon, and consecrated to 
the worship of Jehovah, could not be deemed an appro- 
priate place for the manifestation of the Divine Purity, 
until it became filled with the fumes of burning victims 
and defiled with the filth and blood and garbage which 
must obviously be the concomitants of such butchery ? 
Would such a scene as the Temple must have presented, 
if living sacrifices were really made, be calculated to in- 
spire a congregation with devotional feelings ? Would it 
not rather produce abhorrence and disgust? The sacri- 
fices of the early Jews were no doubt widely different from 
that view w T hich has been palmed on the world through 
the darkness of human tradition, and which they doubt- 
less offered in their perverted state. In the Scriptures the 
names of animals are applied to vessels made of their 
respective skins, and used in sacrifices ; to moneys, stamped 
with their appropriate figures, and brought to the Temple 
as offerings; to pasti-y images of animals, made of fine 
flour and other ingredients as specified in the Levitical 
Law ; to human beings, and to individual spirits or socie- 
ties, as seen above by Prophets, Apostles, and other holy 
men of old, enveloped in bestial spheres. We merely add, 
that the sheep and the oxen offered by Solomon at this 
consecration were doubtless pieces of money of the value 
of the animal with whose image they were impressed and 
by whose name they were designated. 

We come now to the testimony as it is recorded in the 
Gospel Dispensation in relation to the subject of our inves- 
tigation. And here, my Christian friends, let us not de- 
ceive ourselves by imagining, as some have done, that 



INTO THE LIGHT. 175 

Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our Salvation, 
came into the world to abrogate or destroy the law or the 
Prophets, as given under a previous dispensation. " I 
came not to destroy, but to fulfill." Neither let us erro- 
neously conclude that the Gospel develops a system of 
legislation differing in any of its essential principles from 
that order instituted by Infinite Wisdom from the very 
creation of the world. " With him there is no variable- 
ness, nor even a shadow of changing." He never departs 
from the laws of Divine order which He immutably estab- 
lished at the beginning. The Gospel, in our apprehension, 
is simply the manifestation of those means, always pro- 
vided of the Divine mercy of the Lord, by which the 
children of men, degenerate as they had even then become, 
might be restored to that felicity which, through trans- 
gression, they had unhappily lost; that they might be re- 
exalted to that estate from which, through sin, they had 
lamentably fallen. The effect of those means, in the re- 
newal and restoration of Human Nature, is fully exem- 
plified in the history of the Redemption and Glorification 
of that nature by Jesus Christ. " He came that He might 
save, and that He might save unto the uttermost." But 
you will call to mind that in the renovation of our nature, 
which He assumed, He observed the law, He fulfilled 
even that primitive law first given to man. " He was a 
Nazarite from the womb." " Butter and honey shall He 
eat," says the Prophet, " that He may know to choose the 
good and to reject the evil." If such is the kind of testi- 
mony presented in the Gospel, is it not the duty of his 
followers to walk in his footsteps, and imitate with all their 
ability his bright and glorious example ? His forerunner, 
John the Baptist, the messenger to prepare his way before 
him, lived on locusts (the fruit of the locust-tree) and 
wild honey; and yet it is emphatically said of him that "of 



176 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

those born of woman there has not arisen a greater than 
John." "Be ye wise as serpents," says our Redeemer, 
when instructing his disciples, " and harmless as doves." 
The serpent is described by naturalists as one of the most 
watchful of all animated existences ; and the dove as an 
innocent and inoffensive creature, that feeds only on the 
productions of the vegetable world. Such, then, it appears 
to us, should the followers of the meek and humble Jesus 
be ; such the circumspection of character, and such the 
dietetic conduct, of all his faithful followers. 

Soon after the commencement of the Christian Church 
the Apostles held a council, whence was subsequently pro- 
mulgated a decree to the churches, composed principally 
at that period of Gentile converts. In that important 
document, the members of the first Christian Council 
declare, "It seemeth good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, 
to lay upon you no greater burthen than these neces- 
sary things : that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, 
and from blood [that is, the blood of the grape, in your 
religious feasts, when rendered intoxicating by fermenta- 
tion], and from things strangled," or, in other words, 
"which have suffered a violent death." But do not all 
animals which fall a sacrifice to the butcher's knife suffer 
a violent death ? Are we not, then, as Christians, enjoined 
to abstain from eating such things, as a necessary part 
of our "obedience unto the faith"? The light in which 
the Apostle Paul apprehended this decree is easily per- 
ceived. He was a member of the Council, and subse- 
quently one of those deputed by its authority to deliver 
the decree to the churches. He voluntarily took upon 
him the fulfillment of the delegated duty, and his declara- 
tions to the churches are remarkable. u It is good," says 
he, "neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine." Did the 
Apostle to the Gentiles not understand the will of the 



INTO THE LIGHT. 177 

Council ? It will scarcely be contended that, in announcing 
it to be good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, he tran- 
scended his powers or that he misrepresented the senti- 
ments of this primitive Christian Council. Such an in- 
ference will not readily find a place in any mind wishful 
to see the truth as it is in Jesus. 

It is said that Peter, James, and John were fishermen, 
with Zebedee their father ; and yet, says the justly cele- 
brated Calmet, " they never ate either fish or flesh or 
fowl." In brief, Christian friends, there are many testi- 
monies tending to induce the belief that the doctrine for 
which we are contending was that maintained by the whole 
Christian Church for upwards of two hundred years. 
Philo, accordingly, in writing of the Christians of his own 
time, says, " They not only abstain from eating flesh, but 
none can be found among them that voluntarily engage 
in manufacturing darts, arrows, swords, helmets, breast- 
plates, nor even such weapons as might be converted to 
bad purposes in time of peace ; much less do any of them 
engage in war or its arts.' 7 

In opposition to our views, the language of our Re- 
deemer, as delivered to the Pharisees, will probably be 
cited : " Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the 
man." But does any one seriously imagine, and really 
believe, that our Saviour, by this declaration, meant to 
give full license to gluttony and intemperance, or that his 
followers might eat or drink anything with impunity which 
the law of God had forbidden to be used? The sense in 
which these words were intended to be understood must 
be attained by a consideration of the reason and the oc- 
casion of their being spoken. The context informs us 
that the Pharisees, being offended, murmured at the dis- 
ciples of Jesus for sitting down to meat with unwashed 
hands. In answer to their mitrmuring, Jesus said, "Not 

16 



178 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

that which goeth into the mouth defileth," etc. In other 
words, not any little soil taken into the mouth by eating 
with unwashed hands can be said to defile the man. This, 
we apprehend, is the plain and obvious meaning of the 
passage. It is further worthy of remark that these words 
were spoken about twenty years prior to the apostolic 
decree to which we have already directed your attention ; 
and it is not probable the apostles would make a decree 
directly in contradiction to the declaration of Him whose 
cause they advocated^ and by whose authority they had 
stood forth as the champions of the Gospel dispensation. 

The vision of Peter, as recorded in the Acts of the 
Apostles, is often adduced by those who would sustain 
the flesh-eating system, as proof indubitable that man is 
sanctioned by the Christian Scriptures in eating flesh. 
The language recorded as addressed to Peter on that 
occasion is, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat." But, before we 
acquiesce in such an interpretation, let us first inquire, if 
Peter was directed by this vision and this language to kill 
and eat animals and other reptile existences, did he do as 
he was commanded ? He certainly did not ; for, after 
being exhibited before him three times in succession, he ex- 
pressly says, they " were all drawn up again into heaven.' 7 
Let us again inquire whether there is anything like rea- 
sonableness in concluding that living animals, of flesh and 
blood, were actually let down from heaven in a sheet, 
when we are assured that flesh and blood cannot enter 
the kingdom of heaven. Again let us ask, What in- 
struction did Peter derive from this vision ? "Of a 
truth," says he, "I perceive that God is no respecter of 
persons; but that iri every nation, he that feareth Him 
and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him." Thus, 
as the testimony appear*? to us, Peter learned not to call 
any man common or uno-ean. He was taught to look 



INTO THE LIGHT, 1*79 

upon the animal appearances exhibited to his view as 
representatives of the Gentile nations ; but we have no 
reason to believe he learned anything by this vision re- 
specting killing cattle or eating flesh, or that he was 
intended to derive any such instruction from the vision. 
Peter, in common with the rest of the Jews, was preju- 
diced against the Gentiles ; by this vision his prejudice 
was corrected, for after it he went in to eat sacrament ally 
with men that were uncircumcised, on their becoming 
Christians, — God having in this way taught him so to do< 
The rendering of the language to Peter is, "Rise, Peter, 
consecrate and eaV 1 

"0 mortals! from the flesh of beasts abstain, 
Nor taint your bodies with a food profane; 
While corn and pulse by nature are bestowed, 
And planted orchards bend their willing load; 
While labored gardens wholesome herbs produce, 
And teeming vines afford their gen'rous juice: 
Nor tardier fruits of cruder kind are lost, 
But tamed by heat or mellowed by the frost; 
While kine to pails distended udders bring, 
And bees their honey redolent of Spring; 
While earth not only can your needs supply, 
But, lavish of her store, provides for luxury; 
A guiltless feast administers with ease, 
And without blood, is prodigal to please." 

It will also be objected, especially in regard to fish, that 
our Saviour fed the multitude with loaves and fishes, that 
He ate of a broiled fish and a honey-comb, and that several 
of his disciples were fishermen. To this we reply with 
all possible brevity, — first, that there are various sorts 
of fishermen, as pearl-fishers, coral-fishers, fishers of sub- 
marine and water-plants of various kinds, as well as of the 
living or animal fish; and secondly, that the term used 
for fish in the Gospel does not mean fish in its common 



180 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

acceptation. Parkhurst, in his Greek Lexicon, says, 
and his authority will be duly respected, "It seems not 
very natural to understand the Greek word opsarion 
(John xxi. 9) as signifying fish. It signifies some other 
kind of provision, of the delicious sort, that may be eaten 
with bread." In short, we believe there is reasonable 
ground for our argument that the Scriptures, rightly in- 
terpreted, do not sanction the eating of either fish or flesh 
or fowl. There is, we believe, testimony sufficient in 
them as they are, to raise doubts in inquiring minds; and 
the apostle says, " He that doubteth is condemned if he 
eat; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." 

Lastly, Christianity inculcates self-denial as one of 
the duties of her votaries ; a term that denotes a relinquish- 
ment of everything that stands in opposition to the Divine 
commands, or that would be detrimental to their spiritual 
welfare. She calls upon her followers to deny themselves 
and take up their cross daily. She entreats them to mor- 
tify the body with its deeds ; to shun fleshly lusts, to avoid 
luxury, intemperance, and gluttony, and whatever is done, 
that it be done in the fullness of faith, without doubting, 
and in the fear of the Lord. She represents the blessings 
of Eternal Life as attainable only by keeping the com- 
mandments. She exhorts her believers to be humane and 
merciful, as their Father in the heavens is merciful ; to 
mortify the fleshly mind, which is ever contrary to the 
mind of Christ ; to keep the body under subjection to the 
precepts of the Gospel ; not to live to the flesh, but in all 
things, whether they eat or drink r or whatsoever they do, 
that it be done to the glory of their heavenly Father. 
She calls upon her followers peremptorily to renounce all 
those pleasures of sense, worldly examples, and unhallowed 
practices that are prejudicial to their physical well-being, 
or injurious to the spiritual interests of immortal souls. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 181 

And shall Christianity hold out to us these blessed truths 
of our holy religion in vain ? Shall we continue rebellious 
to her purifying and heavenly doctrine of self-denial? 
Shall we be unwilling to take up our cross, to die daily to 
an indulgence in the pleasures of an over-excited sensa- 
tion, whether arising from eating flesh or drinking vrine? 
Shall we not be ready "to present our bodies, a living 
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is indeed but 
our reasonable service"? Shall we not labor with all dili- 
gence, by living according to the order of our nature and 
the commandments of our God, to attain unto that holi- 
ness of spirit without which no man can see God ; and 
even strive to prepare our very bodies, that they may be- 
come appropriate " temples of the Holy Spirit" ? Shall 
the voice of Humanity, Reason, and Christianity plead 
with us to no purpose ? Shall we continue to make a god 
of our appetites, and not turn from following the corrupt- 
ing example of " riotous eaters of flesh"? 

Christian friends, let us endeavor to impress the im- 
portance of this subject upon our minds. Let us ever 
remember that all religion which does not produce its ap- 
propriate effect upon the life is futile and useless, — mere 
vanity and vexation of spirit, instead of life and peace in 
the Holy Spirit. Let us never forget that one of the most 
exalted attributes of the Christian is that of consistency 
in practical life with the theoretic principles he professes. 
It is this which pre-eminently distinguishes the devout 
and sincere professor from the common mass of mankind. 
Let us bear in mind that to us most especially, my 
Christian friends, the world turns for such an example ; 
that to us pure and undefiled religion calls for such a con- 
duct; to the consistency of our practice with the clemency 
and humanity of our profession, as believers in the Bible- 
Testimony, that it is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink 

16* 



182 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

wine, bleeding Christianity looks as her only refuge. Let 
her not look in vain. Stand for the cause of Truth against 
all the efforts of those "who live to the flesh." Stand as 
the soldiers of your Redeemer, in the blessed armor of the 
Gospel, with the shield of faith and the breastplate of 
righteousness, having for a helmet the hope of salvation, 
and girded with the sword of the Spirit, which is the 
Word of God. Yet contend not, my Christian friends, 
in the temper of angry controversy, for the battle is the 
Lord's, and He demands of us the spirit of meekness and 
holiness, the spirit of supplication and prayer, the spirit 
of a diligent co-operation with Him, the spirit of benevo- 
lence and an affectionate solicitude for the souls of all men. 
Fear not, then, that the rays of this heavenly doctrine, if 
faithfully mirrored in the lives of our little community, will 
be wholly lost in the darkness that surrounds us on this 
subject. In such case we shall know and feel that we 
have strength and power from on High; and Ave cannot 
doubt that the sober wishes of the moral, the intellectual, 
and the virtuous, of every creed, will always be with us. 
We are not, indeed, to expect that immediate and complete 
success is to crown our infantile exertions in this self- 
sacrificing cause. The storm and the whirlwind of human 
prejudices and erroneous sentiments must first pass by be- 
fore the still, small voice of Christian clemency, meek-eyed 
mercy, and childlike humanity can be beneficially heard. 
Our aim is not violently to snatch the fatal knife from the 
bloody hands of the butcher, nor ruthlessly to tear the 
feast of death from the teeth of the riotous eaters of flesh. 
Our high object is to instruct, to correct general sentiment, 
and to determine the principles of public habits so as to 
cherish universal humanity; believing that in proportion 
as the minds of the moral and intellectual among our 
fellow-mortals are sufficiently awakened to the importance 



INTO THE LIGHT. 183 

of the dietetics of the Bible, they will withdraw themselves 
from a system of cruel habits, which involves a portion of 
the animal creation in needless suffering and untimely 
death, and which has unquestionably a baneful effect upon 
the physical existence and the intellectual, moral, and 
religious powers of man. 

In conclusion, my Christian friends, if we would seek 
to invigorate and expand the principles of our own faith, 
or be instrumental in effecting the conversion of others, 
let us not confide in our own strength, but rather look 
unto Him who is the author and finisher of our salvation, 
and who alone knoweth the unruly wills and darkened 
understandings of sinful men, for his blessing on our 
feeble labors. Let us remember that the most convincing 
argument is the spectacle of a pure and consistent exam- 
ple ; that while controversy, uninfluenced by prayer, has 
a natural tendencv to irritate and inflame, to increase the 
obstinacy of prejudice, and rivet the stubbornness of self- 
will, devotion will frequently soften, kindness will con- 
ciliate, and affection will reclaim. 

And now, may his blessing for the future so guide our 
course and prosper our efforts that we may find cause to 
rejoice in the extension of pure and undefiled religion, and 
not only experience its increasing influence within our own 
souls, but behold its present growth among our fellow- 
mortals, until every domestic hearth shall have its altar; 
until the Word and Spirit of the Most High shall govern 
our country and the world; until carnal-mindedness, in- 
humanity, vice, and profanity, intemperance, wretchedness, 
and immorality, shall vanish, the whole earth be filled with 
the knowledge of the Lord, and the period come when, 
according to Jehovah, by his Prophet, "They shall 
neither hurt nor destroy in all my Holy Mountain" ! 



184 OUT OF THE CLOUDS 



DISCOURSE XL 

ON THE SACRIFICES OF THE JEWS. 
I. Kings viii. 62 to the end. 

Under, the Jewish dispensation it was customary for 
the people of that Church to make use of various rituals 
and ceremonials in their religious worship ; rituals which 
appear to us to be a strange and an incongruous method 
of worshiping a Being of Infinite Mercy, Benevolence, and 
Love. The prominence of animal sacrifices in their reli- 
gious and devotional exercises is so evidently set forth in 
the sacred pages as to have impressed many with the idea 
that such worship was commanded by Jehovah ; and yet 
the varied sacrifices of innocent animals, as is generally 
supposed, are of a character so repugnant to his Divine 
Attributes, and so contrary to the purest and strongest 
feelings of our nature, that we are astonished to think how 
such a practice could ever have been tolerated by any 
people having the smallest claims to civilization and 
humanity; and we are prompted to inquire, Why were 
sacrifices instituted ? And what do they mean ? The word 
sacrifice literally means what is devoted to God, — made 
holy, or consecrated to his service. 

The first observation which impresses our minds when 
we read of worship by sacrifice, is that such worship, like 
all the other customs of the Jewish services, was sym- 
bolical of the nature of that spiritual devotion which is 



INTO THE LIGHT. 185 

required to be offered in the Lord's spiritual Church. As 
Christians, we are to do what was typified or represented 
by the Jews, and by Solomon, when he and they brought 
their gifts and offerings to their altars. These were their 
dedications of good things to the Lord, according to their 
sacred rites of worship. Their rites and ceremonies were 
all emblems of things spiritual ; of things that are to be 
done by us in the Lord's Christian Church. They had 
an altar which w^as an emblem of the Lord Himself; and 
to this altar they anciently brought offerings of fruit, 
bread, wine, and other things ; and these dedicated objects 
they called offerings or gifts. The act of offering them 
was typical of the spiritual worship we should offer to the 
Lord our God. They were called gifts or presents, be- 
cause they were tokens of love to the Lord, good will and 
friendship to man : they testified a desire to establish cer- 
tain relations between the parties, or rather to maintain 
the relations which should exist between those who 
offered and those who received the gifts, — relations which 
should exist between men and their God, — a desire to 
acknowledge Him as the Author and Giver of life, and the 
Source of every good; an acknowledgment that He should 
rule and reign in the minds and lives of men, and that 
men should dedicate themselves to Him as his people and 
servants. All this is Divine worship; and we perform 
such worship when, as Christians, we engage in pious ex- 
ercises, — when we pray and praise the Lord, reverence 
and worship Him at various times, and in various ways. 
Our Sabbath days are more especially times when we 
come together with offerings to the altar of the Lord. We 
come, or should come, with offerings of penitence, and sac- 
rifices of broken and contrite hearts. Our offerings, gifts, 
or sacrifices are either accepted or they are not. Our 
Sabbath worship in the Lord's Temple, like every act of 



186 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

piety, is always accepted, if it be true and genuine ; with- 
out these qualifications it is non-accepted. Before the 
ritual law was given to the children of Israel, it is evi- 
dent that they were in the habit of offering sacrifices in 
the wilderness ; for immediately after coming up out 
of Egypt, while Moses was gone up on Mount Sinai, 
to receive the Law, and before its annunciation to the 
people, they had made a molten calf, erected an altar, 
and had offered burnt-offerings upon it. That the cus- 
tom of offering sacrifices was at that time prevalent also 
among the Gentile nations is obvious, for it is recorded 
that when the idolatrous priest, Balaam, of the city 
of Pethor, was consulted by Balak, king of Moab, he 
commanded the king three times to build him seven 
altars, and to offer a bullock and a ram upon each altar. 
From profane history it is also an undisputed fact, that the 
custom of offering sacrifices was of general prevalence 
among all the ancient heathen nations. We are authorized, 
therefore, in concluding that the custom of offering sacri- 
fices did not originate at the time when the laws relating 
to sacrificial worship were given to the Jewish Church 
from Mount Sinai, but that it had an origin earlier even 
than the existence of that nation ; and also that the prac- 
tice of offering sacrifices was by no means confined to the 
Jews, but that it was a practice which prevailed gener- 
ally throughout the various nations of the Gentile world. 
On various occasions we have stated that we did not 
believe the ancients, in the performance of their religious 
ceremonies and during their integrity, ever butchered and 
offered animals that had lived and breathed, and tasted of 
the sweets of life ; or that Jehovah ever commanded or 
approved any such cruelties in coming before Him. It is 
universally allowed that in the earliest ages of the world 
the religious sacrificial ceremonies of most other nations 



INTO THE LIGHT. 18? 

consisted principally in their offerings of fruits, bread, and 
wine before God, Such was the offering of Melchizedec, 
of which Abraham partook. Ancient history also informs 
us that offerings of bread, wine, oil, and even milk, were in 
use at an early period among the Romans, and that at their 
sacrificial festivals they presented their libations in cups 
or vessels beautifully modeled and finished, and bearing 
the name of the ram or other animal whose head was em- 
bossed thereon. It is well known also to persons ac- 
quainted with ancient history, that the Athenians had a 
coin called ox, from the figure of that animal enstamped 
upon it, The Romans had a coin on which the impress 
of a sheep was marked, thence it is called pecunia. This 
ingenious substitute of coin for living animals the Romans 
might have derived, says Dr. Gregory, from the Hebrews, 
to whom the pastoral life was more eminently peculiar, 
and who applied the names of certain animals to the vessels 
used in their sacrificial ceremonies, in their tabernacles, 
and in the Temple, and likewise to moneys or coins stamped 
with their appropriate figures. The offerings made by 
Solomon of one hundred and twenty thousand sheep and 
hventy-two thousand oxen on the day of the dedication of 
his beautiful Temple, we are persuaded, were not living 
animals, presented to be butchered and burned in a place 
constructed and solemnly consecrated to purity and holi- 
ness, but pieces of money, of the value of the animal with 
whose image they were respectively impressed, and by 
whose name they were also designated. Let us briefly 
consider the Bible account of this dedication of the Temple. 
Let us view the narrative not according to our prejudices, 
but in the light of science, history, and religion, and after 
maturely reflecting on all the evidence, let us solemnly 
ask ourselves whether the popular notion on the subject 
of animal sacrifices can possibly be right. Who can tell 



188 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

us how one hundred and twenty thousand sheep and 
twenty-two thousand oxen could possibly be sacrificed, 
and their bodies consumed, or, as others say, cooked, in 
one day in the Temple then just built by Solomon ? 

If animals were intended for the food of mankind, why 
such a useless waste ? If not, why so great a destruc- 
tion of animal life and enjoyment? Who can tell us how 
such a number of animals could all be consumed on one 
altar made of wood and only overlaid with thin plates of 
metal ? Whence came all these sheep and oxen, and the 
fuel necessary for the consumption of their bodies ? 

Other believers in Divine Revelation, we are aware, have 
a different opinion respecting the Scripture sacrifices. They 
conceive these sacrifices were living animals, and that the 
Temple was little other than a splendid slaughter-house. 
A correct view of the origin and nature of sacrificial wor- 
ship that should present a symbolical and spiritual develop- 
ment of the subject, would doubtless be exceedingly grati- 
fying and instructive to minds inquiring after the truth. 
In the language of Job, then, on a different occasion, we 
venture to say to our hearers this morning, " Hearken unto 
me, I also will show you my opinion." These sacrifices 
of the Bible have long been considered in the religious 
world as all pointing to the crucifixion and bodily death 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, as typical of what is called 
the great sacrifice which He offered of Himself for the 
sins of the world, in suffering Himself to die, in order, as 
they say, to appease the wrath of his Father and to 
satisfy the claims of his Divine justice, and by this means 
to open a way of pardon from God for guilty man, 
through faith in his atoning blood. But from the testi- 
mony of the Bible it appears that sacrifice was never 
required, but that obedience to the truth was and is : 
" Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears 



WTO TEE LIGHT. 189 

hast thou opened : burnt-offering and sin-offering hast 
thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the 
volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do 
thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." 
(Psalm xl. 6-8.) This is said even of the great sacrifice 
of Christ itself; it was not desired, it was not required. 
But all that was required or desired in the Divine law was 
devotion in his heart. Now, this was required, and to 
devote himself to the will of God was his delight. That 
we are not mistaken in our application of this passage to 
the Lord Himself, may be seen by its quotation and ap- 
plication to Him in ttie Apostle Paul's Epistle to the 
Hebrews : " Wherefore when He cometh into the world, 
He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a 
body hast thou prepared me : in burnt-offerings and sacri- 
fices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, 
I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to 
do thy will, O God." In the next verse it is said, " Sacri- 
fice and offering and burnt-offerings and offering for sin 
thou wouldst not." In the verse after it is repeated: 
" Then said He, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." 
(Hebrews x. 5-9.) So plainly are we assured that doing 
the Divine will, not sacrifice for sin, even in the case of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, is that which is required. And, 
lest the matter should be overlooked, it is several times 
repeated. It doubtless behooved Christ to suffer as a 
thing permitted, but not as a matter of requisition. So 
also the Jewish sacrifices, whatever may have been their 
nature, were permitted, not commanded, not required. 
That people's obedience was required, but sacrifice was 
not. For says the Psalmist, " Thou desirest not sacri- 
fice ; else would I give it : thou delightest not in burnt- 
offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." 
(Psalm li. 16, 11.) Solomon in the Proverbs (xxi. 3) 

17 



190 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

says, " To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to 
the Lord than sacrifice.' 7 This matter is also expressly 
decided in Hosea (vi. 6): "For I desired mercy and not 
sacrifice ; and the knowledge of God more than burnt- 
offerings." In the Gospel it is recorded that one of the 
scribes put this question to our Lord, " Which is the 
first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The 
first of all the commandments is, Hear, Israel ; the 
Lord our God is one Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : this is 
the first commandment. And the second is like unto it, 
namely, this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
There is none other commandment greater than these. 
And the scribe said unto Him, Well, Master, thou hast 
said the truth : for there is one God ; and there is none 
other but He : and to love Him with all the heart, and 
with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and 
with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as Himself, 
is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. 
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, He 
said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of 
God." (Mark xii. 28-31.) The scribe was discreet in 
placing the love of God and our neighbor above all whole 
burnt-offerings and sacrifices. He was, consequently, no 
advocate of a vicarious atonement, and yet our Lord 
sanctioned his discreet answer. The Sacred Scriptures 
are, indeed, remarkably uniform in their representation of 
•the permissive nature of the Jewish sacrifices. It is said 
in the Prophet Jeremiah, " Thus says the Lord of hosts, 
the God of Israel: I spake not unto }^our fathers, nor com- 
manded them in the day that I brought them up out of 
the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings and sacri- 
fices: but this thing 1 commanded them, saying, Obey my 



INTO THE LIGHT. 191 

voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people." 
(vii. 21-23.) 

In the fiftieth Psalm (8-15) : "I will not reprove thee 
for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt-offerings, to have been con- 
tinually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy 
house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. For every beast of 
the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 
I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild 
beasts of the forests are mine. If I were hungry, I would 
not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness 
thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of 
goats ? Offer unto God thanksgiving ; and pay thy vows 
to the Most High." In this passage sacrifices and burnt- 
offerings are disclaimed ; but the offering of thanksgiving 
is required. In Isaiah (i. 11-14) we read: " To what 
purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith 
the Lord : I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and 
the fat of fed beasts ; and I delight not in the blood of 
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to ap- 
pear before me, who hath required this at your hands, to 
tread my courts ? Bring no more vain oblations ; incense is 
an abomination unto me; your new moons and your ap- 
pointed feasts my soul hateth ; they are a trouble unto 
me; I am weary to bear them." 

The numerous passages we have now repeated to you, 
Christian friends, are abundantly sufficient to show that 
the Jewish sacrifices were not required or appointed, but 
that, like the law of divorce, they were "permitted, be- 
cause of the hardness of their hearts." Neither are they 
typical of a vicarious sacrifice for sin, in order to render 
God propitious, and willing to bless his people. 

We maintain that living animals were not originally 
sacrificed. But whether the Jews offered in sacrifices the 
slain bodies of animals, which had lived, breathed, and 



192 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

enjoyed life, or whether their sacrifices were of a different 
character, they did what was not required, and in the 
case of animal sacrifices they did what was absolutely 
wrong. They had no authority from the Almighty to 
inflict pain or take away the life of any of his sentient 
creatures. 

"When man his sacrifice of beasts began, 
He also forged the sword to murder man." 

The names of the animals mentioned in the Bible as 
having been used in sacrifices are lambs, sheep, oxen, 
goats or kids, turtle-doves, and pigeons. A consideration 
of the typical character of each will assist us in the under- 
standing of the subject, The Lamb is named in the Word 
of God as the symbol of innocence, and it is so expressive 
of this virtue that it is almost a household word. Sheep 
are the types of the gentle principles of Charity, or sym- 
pathizing brotherly love. Oxen are the types of the dis- 
positions to duty and obedience. The ox was the animal 
anciently used for plowing, an operation spiritually typical 
of the preparation of the soul to receive the knowledge of 
heavenly truths. The goat, whose delight is in leaping 
from rock to rock, is the symbol of a disposition in the 
man of the Church to regard the truths of Faith with 
great pleasure. Birds, from their soaring power, are the 
symbols of intetlectual thoughts. Turtle-doves and pigeons 
are the types of those tender thoughts, and that yearning 
after the heavenly life, which the soul experiences in the 
early part of its regeneration. 

All these types, then, of good affections and heavenly 
thoughts, abundantly confirm the view we have drawn 
from the Sacred Scriptures that the sacrifices, bearing the 
names of birds and animals, represented the good things 
and principles dedicated to the Lord by true believers, 
in their worship of his glorious Being. The nature and 



INTO THE LIGHT. 193 

quality of the worship, which men render to the Lord in 
all ages, are always according to the state of their thoughts 
and affections, and to the idea which they form of the 
Divine Character. When mankind became natural and 
carnal, they also became external in the quality of their 
worship. And it was then, and not till then, that they 
began actually to kill, and to offer in sacrifice, those ani- 
mals the names of which, in a state of higher intelligence 
and purity, had been used simply as types or emblems of 
those spiritual thoughts and affections in which all true 
worship ever consists. Such, we believe, is the Scripture 
view of the nature and origin of offering burnt-offerings 
and sacrifices. 

But it may be asked why the Jews, a people selected 
by the Divine Being to be the medium of a Divine Reve- 
lation, were apparently commanded, but in reality only 
permitted, to offer sacrifices and burnt-offerings to God. 

We have shown that the practice of sacrificing had an 
existence among them before the giving of the Law. The 
command, therefore, for them to offer sacrifices was given 
in consideration of their mental condition or spiritual 
degradation, and it is to be regarded as merely a per- 
mission. Being themselves so carnal as to be incapable 
of understanding the nature of spiritual worship, they 
were mere performers of external rites and ceremonies, 
which were so regulated by the laws in the Levitical 
book as to represent correctly true spiritual worship by 
symbols or analogies. They were selected that they 
might be the medium of giving to the world the external 
representative form of spiritual principles and a spiritual 
religion. In this sense only were they a chosen people, — 
chosen as the agents by whom there might be given to the 
world a representative form of true spiritual worship, — 
that the Word might be given by analogy or correspond- 

17* 



194 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

ences for the use of the future Church. When thus set 
apart or chosen, their custom of sacrificing was not pro- 
hibited, but restricted and regulated by a code of cere- 
monial laws and ritual observances as recorded in the 
Mosaic institutions. They were strictly forbidden to offer 
any animal in sacrifice which was not a true type or em- 
blem of the pure and spiritual affection required to' be 
exercised by the spiritual worshiper in the circumstances 
of the offering. They were permitted to offer only those 
beasts and birds from the animal kingdom, and those 
offerings from the vegetable world, which were the true 
types of good affections and intellectual thoughts. On one 
occasion they were required to offer an ox; on another, a 
ram, or a goat ; on another, oil, flour, or incense ; yet the 
occasion and the circumstances of the offering were always 
such as according to the law of analogy called for the 
specific offering, or the exercise towards God of that 
peculiar affection of the mind which was thus typically 
represented by the object sacrificed. 

Such, Christian friends, was the principle in accord- 
ance with which the custom of offering sacrifices originated 
•and was restricted and regulated in the Jewish Church. • 

For the sake of the Church in after-ages, these sacri- 
fices which they were permitted to offer were restricted by 
the Mosaic law, and so regulated as to represent truly, by 
analogy or symbol, the spiritual affection which was at 
first, and ought ever to have been, the real offering pre- 
sented, and the offering which would in the future be 
presented, when mankind under a new dispensation would 
form a true idea of the character and attributes of God, 
and thus be able to understand the nature of that sincere 
spiritual worship which alone is truly acceptable unto 
Him. 

As we, then, beloved, endeavor to follow the Lord in 



INTO THE LIGHT. 195 

the renewal of our lives, and as we advance from natural to 
spiritual mindedness, the ceremonial law of the Jews will 
receive its fulfillment individually in our own minds. We 
shall learn to offer in our worship those thoughts and 
affections which were outwardly represented in the rites 
and ceremonies of the external sacrificial worship of the 
Jewish Church, and at the dedication of Solomon's Temple. 
We learn by experience, also, that in order to follow the 
Lord we are every one of us required, as Bible-Christians, to 
consecrate unto Him all our natural affections and desires ; 
and even to offer our very bodies as living sacrifices, holy 
and acceptable unto God, which is (^as it should be trans- 
lated) our spiritual worship. 

Looking in this manner at Solomon's sacrifices, and at 
the ritual laws of the Mosaic institutions, we can see as 
in an image what the burnt-offerings and sacrifices of the 
Jews represented, as applied to the Redemption and glori- 
fication of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. They 
represented not a vicarious sacrifice, but the consecration of 
all the affections and desires of the assumed human nature 
to the Divine nature, from and by which it was assumed, 
for God was in Christ; the offering up and hallowing to 
the Essential Divinity of every affection and desire of the 
assumed humanity ; and, finally, the offering up of the 
assumed humanity itself, as a living sacrifice, to the Es- 
sential Divinity within Him, so that it, i.e. the assumed 
human or manhood of Jesus Christ, not his material, 
murdered body, became the brightness of God's glory 
and the express image of his person, — the Way, the 
Truth, the Life, — for in the face of the glorified Lord 
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, shines forth, to the compre- 
hension of his people, all the fullness of the Godhead 
bodily. 

In this sense our Lord offered Himself as a sacrifice for 



196 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

the sins of the world. Instead of performing outwardly 
the ritual, sacrificial worship of the Jewish Church, He 
performed inwardly and spiritually, until He had offered 
up every affection , every desire and thought of the human 
assumed, and in this spiritual way had consecrated the 
entire human nature, as a temple; as a Lamb that was 
slain without spot or blemish, by whose blood we are 
redeemed to God ; blood meaning not that which was 
wickedly shed on Mount Calvary from his material body, 
but blood, the emblem of the Divine Truth, which He 
continuously imparts for the sanctification and salvation of 
his people. Hence, again, the symbolic language, "Except 
ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink of his blood 
[that is, appropriate of his Divine Love and Truth to the 
nourishment of your souls], ye have no life in you." 

Beloved, the Christian emblematical sacrifice or sacra- 
ment here prepared is the token of the marriage covenant 
between the Bridegroom and his Church. You are in- 
vited in the language of our Redeemer Himself: " As often 
as you come together, do this in remembrance of me." 
From the nature of our remarks in this discourse, you 
will readily see that by the Lord's body or flesh is repre- 
sented and meant the bread of life,—M the good that 
gives spiritual life to our souls ; coming down from heaven, 
transmitted from the Lord to all who come unto Him in 
the spirit of love and obedience. You will also perceive 
that by the Lord's blood is meant the blood of the new 
covenant, the Divine Truth proceeding from his all-glorious 
person, shed for the many, revealed in his Holy Word to all 
who believe on Him, — who acknowledge and obey Him as 
the Only Wise God, our Saviour, the Way, the Truth, the 
Life. " Blessed are they that come to the marriage 
supper of the Lamb." Amen. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 197 



DISCOURSE XII. 

ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 
Exodus xix. 16, etc. 

We purpose directing the attention of our hearers to 
a few remarks intended to illustrate those sacred laws de- 
livered to Moses on Mount Sinai, by the voice of Jehovah, 
amidst the most solemn and extraordinary scenes ever pre- 
sented to the world. When we read of the tremendous pre- 
ludes to the announcement of those Ten Commandments, 
which were given to direct innumerable millions of beings, 
and intended to govern the whole brotherhood of man, the 
circumstances should impress our minds, and lead us to 
desire to know their inexpressible importance. 

It is very generally imagined that the thunder and 
lightning, the smoke, the clouds, and the fiery appearances, 
were indications "of the Divine displeasure against the 
people of Israel ; these accompanying experiences are also 
thought to demonstrate clearly that the revealed laws 
were laws of condemnation and spiritual death, manifest- 
ing to mankind their guilt and their duty, without giving 
them the ability to shun the one, or the power to fulfill 
the other ; and therefore these laws are frequently deemed 
fiery laws, denouncing a curse upon every one who did 
not obey them ; and as all mankind had sinned, it is sup- 
posed no one could obey them ; hence they were deemed 
to them laws of condemnation and spiritual death, and 



198 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

on that account were introduced by clouds and smoke, 
thunder and lightning", fear and trembling, even the 
mountain shaking, and the presence of Jehovah appear- 
ing as in fire. Such are the ideas that have obtained 
in the religious communities of Christendom; hence it is 
common for religious professors to maintain that these 
laws are not binding on believers in Christ ; that they as 
Christians are not under them, but that they are under 
grace; Jesus Christ fulfilled these laws for them, and 
bore and removed their curse in their stead, and all that 
is required of them is faith in these views of his redeem- 
ing operations. Such notions have originated from mis- 
taken ideas of God, and are maintained in the continuance 
of ignorance regarding his true character, his love, justice, 
wisdom, and unbounded benevolence. Can any of our 
hearers imagine that anger, or anything like wrath, con- 
demnation, and spiritual death, can come from the Lord? 
He is infinite in love, and his tender mercies are over all 
his works. Can any suppose that fiery wrath is em- 
bodied in those laws revealed to his often-erring children, 
to guide their feet into the paths of righteousness ? All 
the scenes, all the appearances which took place at the 
time of the promulgation of the Decalogue, were such as 
arose from the peculiar state of mind which then existed 
in the Israeli tish Church ; they were such as were em- 
blematical of the spiritual states of that people, and of the 
effect of the truths of Revelation on their minds. We will 
not enlarge on these appearances at present, and we shall 
only briefly observe that in the symbolic language of the 
Bible, thunder and lightning are typical of the manifesta- 
tions of Divine truths given forth to the Church on earth ; 
the cloud was an emblem of the mental state of the people 
of Israel, who were in the shade and in the darkness of 
ignorance with regard to all spiritual knowledge ; the 



INTO THE LIGHT. 199 

trumpet sounding, denoted the announcement of 'Divine 
and heavenly truths to the people ; the congregated mul- 
titude trembling, implied a holy fear and reverential feel- 
ing ; the smoke was indicative of the obscurity in which 
the truths were seen by the Church, and the fire in which 
Jehovah descended on that important occasion was a symbol 
of his Divine Love towards the human race ; and to those 
who were living in evil among them, this Love appeared as 
a consuming fire, whilst to those who are living in the love 
of goodness from the Lord, and in obedience to the Ten 
Commandments, the Lord's Love is the heat and life, the 
comfort and happiness, of their souls ; and by the voice of 
Jehovah heard on the mount are denoted his influx and dic- 
tation in revealing his laws to the Israelitish Church and 
people. These are some of the prominent circumstances 
typified by the appearances on Mount Sinai when the 
law was given, the mountain itself being a symbol of the 
love and goodness of the Lord. These ten laws were thus 
given by Jehovah because they are not merely moral laws, 
but because they are spiritual and Divine ; they were re- 
vealed in all these sublime appearances to convince man- 
kind, in every age of the Church, that they are indeed 
not only laws of natural, civil, and moral obligation, but 
likewise of the truly spiritual and heavenly life, and that 
always according to the degree in which they are dis- 
closed to man's perception and applied to the regeneration 
of his heart and life. Hence these ten laws contain our 
duty towards Grod, as well as our duty towards each 
other; they contain all that is required of man in time, 
and of angel in eternity; for, like every other part of the 
revealed will of the Lord, there is in them a threefold 
sense or meaning, — a celestial sense, adapted to the per- 
ception and edification of celestial angels ; a spiritual sense, 
adapted to the angelic inhabitants of the Lord's spiritual 



200 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

kingdom ; and a natural sense, from which a religious 
meaning or doctrine is to be drawn for the use and in- 
struction of men on earth, and for the formation and 
nourishment of the Church. This will be obvious from 
the consideration that these laws are preceded by the 
words, " God spake all these words ;" for what God speaks 
is, like Himself, truth Divine ; and his truth is designed 
for the instruction of all his rational offspring on earth and 
in heaven ; it is so revealed as to be accommodated to the 
mental states and uses of all. In the highest, or what the 
Apostle Paul calls " the third heaven,' 7 its celestial or in- 
most sense is known ; in the other heavens, its spiritual 
sense; and in the Church on earth, its natural sense. In 
heaven the word of the Lord assumes a form of develop- 
ment suited to the requirements of the angels there ; on 
earth it is presented to us in a natural or literal form. These 
laws, or Ten Commandments, therefore, being a kind of 
first-fruits of the Word of God, and containing a com- 
pendium of all things relating to religion, or to love to- 
wards God and love towards our neighbor, are to be 
regarded as most holy, — are presented for our reception 
as a transcript of the Divine mind and perfections. They 
contain the religious and spiritual duties devolving on 
every one of us, as well as our civil and moral duties ; in 
them are concentrated the sum and substance of all genuine 
religion ; for they were written on two tables of stone, one 
of which contained all our duties to God, the other, all 
those we owe-to the brotherhood of man. These compre- 
hend the sum total of our religious duties ; and they are 
all comprised in the laws of the Decalogue. From the 
character of these laws, as thus defined, we may easily 
see why these Commandments were delivered on Mount 
Sinai in so solemn and extraordinary a manner by the 
very voice of Jehovah ; it was because all these precepts 



INTO THE LIGHT. 201 

are boly, spiritual, and Divine, — infinite in truth and love, 
and unfolding the whole duty of both man and angel, — 
they were thus delivered to convince us of their Divine 
sanctity, and of their infinite importance as eternal, ever- 
binding rules of life ; they are not to be looked on as laws 
emanating from God's fiery wrath and hot displeasure, — 
as laws of condemnation and death, or rigor and severity, 
— as laws showing us what we ought to do, condemning 
us for not doing it, while the power to obey their require- 
ments is wholly kept from us ; but, on the contrary, they 
are laws of pure mercy and love, — laws of Divine order, — 
our rule of action, and intended to be inscribed on our 
hearts and lives. Never, indeed, can we be perfectly 
happy until these laws are written on the tablets of our 
hearts, and inscribed on the pages of our every-day lives ; 
and that, too, from the pure principle of love to the Lord 
and charity to man. We have said these laws of the 
Decalogue relate not only to our civil and moral conduct, 
but also to our spiritual and everlasting well-being. 

Again, we frequently meet with persons who tell us the 
laws of the Decalogue are abrogated by the introduction 
of the Gospel, and that as followers of Christ we have 
nothing to do with these laws as rules of life. Such 
notions are dangerous errors : they would lead men to 
form false and unjust ideas respecting Divine laws in gen- 
eral, and even of the Divine Being Himself; they would 
supersede that line of conduct and duty which the law of 
God declares to be always binding, — that is, obedience to 
the Commandments. These laws are what those of the 
Medes and Persians professed to be, unalterable, — forever 
binding on the human mind. Jesus Christ declares, 
" He came not to destroy but to fulfill the law." 

To one who asked Him what he must do to be saved, 
He said, " If thou wouldst enter into life, keep the com- 

18 



202 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

mandments." In teaching his Christian converts, Paul 
said, "Do we make void the law through faith ? God 
forbid ; yea, we establish the law." And again says he, 
"The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and 
just, and good." And every page of the Sacred Word 
calls upon us, as immortal beings, to regulate our lives 
and order our conduct according to these blessed and ever- 
lasting laws. The Commandments of the Lord are laws 
of mercy and love, and contain a compendium of every 
moral, religious, and spiritual duty. The very giving of 
the laws implies the existence of a power bestowed on 
mankind to keep those laws. Is it not a reflection on the 
wisdom of the Almighty to represent Him as enacting 
laws for the government of his creatures which He has 
not conferred on them the power or ability to fulfill? 
Would it not be solemn mockery in Jesus Christ to tell 
us we cannot enter into life unless we keep the Command- 
ments, if we had not had ability conferred on us so to do? 

We have already stated that the essence and substance 
of the Ten Commandments, and, we may add, of all the 
Divine laws of the Bible, rightly understood, is to love the 
Lord with all the heart, and to love our neighbor as our- 
selves ; and the end and purpose of all Divine Revelation 
is to elevate mankind intellectually, morally, and spirit- 
ually into this blessed and happy state, — this mountain of 
heavenly love. To effect this desirable end, the order of 
the Divine mercy and goodness appears to be, that as 
man is now a fallen creature, and confessedly prone to 
evil, redemption is effected for him, — the system of Chris- 
tianity is revealed in the Gospel, the glorified Jesus 
Christ is represented to us as " God manifest in the 
flesh," as the Redeemer and Saviour of men, as the all- 
wise and merciful Creator of heaven and earth. 

Therefore, however low we have sunk through our 



INTO THE LIGHT. 203 

fallen propensities, which the Decalogue informs us " are 
visited unto the third and fourth generation," however 
much we are degraded by our actual iniquities, in Him — 
that is, in his glorified Human Nature — is the power of 
full restoration. 

What, then, does the Lord require of us ? Does He say- 
to us, "If you do not, by your own independent power, 
without my aid, fully obey my Ten Commandments, from 
your first existence to your last breath, you shall die in 
your sins, and be miserable forever"? Such is not the 
teaching of the Bible. From it we learn that the Lord 
graciously calls upon us all to repent of our transgres- 
sions and sins, to turn* away from every known evil, and, 
assisted by his power, his Word and Grace, to forsake 
the errors of our ways, to believe in his Holy Laws, to 
hav e faith in Him, as " God over all, 11 and to be obedient 
unto his Commandments. From the Bible we are taught 
that if we thus return to Him, in the way of his Divine 
appointment, we prepare our hearts for the reception 
of his love, and truth, and life, this genuine Repentance 
will open our minds for the reception of the principles of 
a sanctifying faith, of love to his holy name, and of charity 
to all mankind, and will establish these heavenly affections 
and other Christian graces in our minds. These are the 
Lord's principles and spirit in the human soul. By these 
our purification from evil is effected, our regeneration into 
the heavenly state is accomplished, and the salvation of 
our immortal spirits is secured. When, therefore, as true 
penitents, as spiritually-reformed Christians, living under 
the influence and guidance of these heavenly precepts, we 
follow the Lord in obedience to his revealed will, we may 
be truly said " to keep the Commandments ;" and though 
in our obedience we may still be imperfect, — for no one 
becomes instantaneously perfect, — yet our chief desire, 



204 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

our ruling love, being, as we have said, the love of the 
Lord and of mankind, — a love derived from the glorified 
Jesus Christ, "in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the 
Godhead," — we then obey these ten Divine precepts; for 
" love is the fulfilling of the law. 77 

Such are the persons who have the law written on their 
hearts, manifested in their sanctified thoughts and heavenly 
affections, and who walk according to the Commandments 
of their God. In the Church, under the teaching of gen- 
uine Bible-Christianity, there will be continually rising 
up, in the good Providence of the Lord, persons of this 
character, advancing in purity, and in the knowledge and 
love of goodness, and becoming images and likenesses of 
the Lord. These and such as these, when they come to 
pass from the Church militant on earth to the Church 
triumphant in heaven, become angels of order, felicity, 
and honor in the kingdom of the Lord forever. 

And now, beloved, let us seriously reflect upon these 
things, let us meditate on these Bible doctrines, and we 
shall then find these Commandments are everyway suited 
to our state, our spiritual interests, and our real and per- 
manent happiness. We shall then thankfully experience, 
and humbly acknowledge, that there is not a Command- 
ment given in this whole Decalogue but what has emanated 
from infinite love and mercy, from a wise and affectionate 
Father, in order to promote our highest and true in- 
terests. We shall learn, further, that a faithful obedience 
to these laws will not only be every way congenial to our 
hearts, but it will be calculated, moreover, in infinite wis- 
dom, to qualify us for the sublime, perfect, and eternal 
realities of the heavenly world. Every Divine law is a 
law of love, and tends to exalt and dignify us as immortal 
beings; every commandment leads to a glory that is un- 
fading and passeth not away. 



IKTO THE LIGHT. 205 

Let us, then, beloved, as humble followers of the Com- 
mandments, seek these heavenly qualifications from the 
glorified Redeemer and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and strive to live under the influence and guidance of 
these holy truths ; then shall we with delight obey the lata 
of the Lord, and be faithfully going forward, day by day, 
tow r ards the realms of endless bliss, where we shall ex- 
perience and realize the truth of the gracious declaration 
of the Lord of glory : " Blessed are all they that do his 
commandments, for they shall have right to the tree of 
life, in the city of the New Jerusalem, and shall enter 
in through the gates into the city." Amen. 



IS* 



206 OUT OF TEE CLOUDS: 



DISCOURSE XIII. 

ON THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, AND THE DIVINE 
NATURE OF HIS RESURRECTION-BODY. 

Luke xxiv. 34.— " The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." 

The great event of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus 
Christ has been generally regarded as the main fact on 
which depends the Christian's hope. If Christ be not 
risen from the dead, as the apostle very justly observes, 
then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is vain. 
His remaining in the tomb would have proved Him to 
have been a mere man ; holy and gifted He might have 
been, but, as such, wholly incapable of imparting any help 
to mankind, to lead them heavenward, except what might 
be gathered from his example and instruction ; and these 
would not have differed from the example and instruction 
of other pious and intellectual men, except in their superior 
excellence. The power of imparting ability to the sinner 
" to put away the evil of his doings," to walk according to the 
principles of Divine Revelation, and to become saved with 
an everlasting salvation, could not possibly have been given 
had Jesus been merely a finite mortal, and bad He shared 
the common lot of mortal men without a manifest Resur- 
rection from the silent tomb; but, having risen to full and 
perfect union with the Essential Divine Spirit, or the Father, 
and through that unition or oneness attained, even as to 
his glorified Human Spirit or Manhood, the power of being 



INTO THE LIGHT. 207 

perpetually and spiritually with his genuine disciples, He 
could truly say, " Lo, I am with you always, even unto 
the end of the world ;" He was in possession of the ability 
of communicating to them the inward endowments neces- 
sary to empower them to obey his precepts, to follow r his 
example, and to become in their degree like-minded with 
Himself. 

That Jesus Christ did rise from the tomb is most cer- 
tain. Not only did the female disciples receive an assur- 
ance from angels that He was not in the sepulchre, but was 
risen ; not only did all the disciples see from without that 
the stone was rolled away from the door of the sepulchre, 
and nothing of a human person left within, but some of 
them entered it, and viewed the place where He had lain; 
and Peter and John, we are informed, beheld the linen 
cloths in which his body had been swathed, according to 
the custom of the Jewish people of that age, lying where 
they had been deposited, and lying, as it would appear, and 
as the original w r ord implies, as if that which they had en- 
veloped had emerged without disturbing or unfolding them, 
and as is expressly said of the napkin, which had been 
bound round the head, that it lay wrapped together in a 
place by itself. 

And as it was thus so certain, on the one hand, that the 
body was gone, it is no less certain, on the other, that 
Jesus was alive ; for He was repeatedly seen, both on the 
day of his Resurrection, and on various occasions for forty 
days afterwards. One peculiar circumstance which shows 
the Divine nature of this transaction is, that there were no 
human witnesses of the Resurrection itself, — of the act or 
manner of coming forth from the tomb, — and no description 
of it is given by any of the evangelists. What became of 
that material body which was taken down from the cross ? 
wrapped in " grave-clothes," and deposited in the sepul- 



208 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

chre, none of them positively inform us. When Jesus had, 
on a previous occasion, raised or resuscitated the widow's 
son of Nain, " He stopped the bier, and said, Young man, 
I say unto thee, Arise.'' And it is added, " He that was 
dead sat up, and began to speak; and He delivered him 
to his mother." So, again, when He had commanded the 
stone to be removed from the mouth of the grave of Laza- 
rus, " He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! 
And he that was dead," the record proceeds to state, " came 
forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes, and his face 
bound about with a napkin;" therefore Jesus said to those 
who were present, " Loose him, and let him go." All this 
is perfectly natural, and with respect to the resurrection 
from the grave of any finite being, in a body of flesh and 
blood, the circumstances could not well be otherwise. But 
such a person could not be evolved from the grave clothes 
without discomposing them, nor be extricated from them 
when swathed up in many folds, as was the custom at 
that time, without assistance from others; and most cer- 
tainly he could not come out of the sepulchre without, 
like Lazarus, walking forth. Yet nothing of this nature 
is recorded respecting the resurrection of Jesus. His 
grave-clothes were left, as we have seen, undisturbed in 
the place where his body had lain ; and none of the evan- 
gelists give any account, except by remote and symbolical 
images, of the manner in which Jesus emerged from the 
sepulchre. An angel came and rolled away the stone from 
the entrance to the sepulchre, yet it is not said that the 
body of Jesus thereupon walked forth. According to the 
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the female disciples 
were invited by the angel to view the place where the body 
of the Lord had lain ; and according to the Gospel by John, 
Mary Magdalene beheld two angels, one sitting at the 
head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus 



INTO THE LIGHT. 209 

had been placed ; and the disciples all afterwards saw Him 
in various places without or outside of the sepulchre ; yet 
ueither they, nor the guards who had watched the sepul-_ 
chre through the night, and who also were present when 
the angel came and rolled away the stone, saw Him come 
forth. Nor is anything' regarding a coming forth ever 
stated respecting Him. The angels inside the place say 
to the women, " He is not here; He is risen,' 7 but they 
do not in any wise define the manner of his rising. The 
whole is left in the mystery and apparent obscurity so es- 
sential to the sublimity of such a subject. Jesus did not 
rise and go forth as a resuscitated mortal must have done; 
and the mode of his Resurrection could not have been de- 
scribed in other terms without departing from the Divine 
style of writing, in which alone the Word of God could 
be written ; nor could any terms of human language more 
plainly describe the facts, without limiting and in a man- 
ner uniting a subject which, being of a nature purely 
Divine, can never be adequately apprehended by any mere 
finite intelligence. The Gospel, therefore, only speaks of 
it under figurative images, in which the whole Divine full- 
ness of it is included, though to many, who limit their 
ideas to the literal expression of the Bible testimony, they 
seem to have no relation to the subject. Thus, the angel, 
it is said in Matthew's Gospel, rolled back the stone from 
the door of the sepulchre ; but it is not said that Jesus 
thereupon walked out, as was the case with Lazarus, who 
at his call came forth. The reason is, because, to his coming 
forth, the rolling away of the stone was by no means 
necessary. That took place to typify an important cir- 
cumstance connected with the subject ; but the Resurrection 
of Jesus could have taken place as surely had the sepul- 
chre continued closed with the stone from that hour to 
this. He who, the same evening, and subsequently on 



210 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

other occasions, suddenly appeared in the midst of the 
room where the disciples were assembled, though the 
doors were shut and fastened, for fear of the Jews, could 
not have been confined to the tomb had the stone never 
been removed from its entrance. Everything of the mate- 
rial body which was laid in the sepulchre must have been 
there dissipated by his own Omnipotent power. And, 
although it is said the angel rolled away the stone, it is not 
said in any of the Gospels that the Lord availed Himself 
of that circumstance to walk out at the aperture. But his 
Resurrection-body was a Divine, or, as the apostle says, 
"a Glorious Body, in which are hid all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge." (Col. ii. 3.) This Glorious Body, 
as well as the earthly body of Jesus, disappeared from 
the sepulchre without discomposing the grave-clothes, or 
requiring the removal of the stone from the door. His 
Glorious Body, being now in full participation of all the 
attributes of Divinity, possessed Omnipotence, and could 
no longer be localized or confined even to the bounda- 
ries of the material universe. Thus much with regard to 
the Resurrection of Jesus; and connected with this, the 
manner of his appearing to his disciples after that event 
requires to be noticed. 

When it is understood that the Lord in his Resurrection- 
body is Omnipresent, many circumstances in the Gospel 
history become easily intelligible, which otherwise would 
be involved in inextricable mystery. The circumstances 
we have mentioned, of his Resurrection from the sepul- 
chre while it was closed and watched by the guard, and 
his appearing in the midst of the room, the doors being 
shut, are at once made clear and easily accounted for : 
either by supposing his Divine Omnipresence in the midst 
of the disciples, and their spiritual eyes open to behold his 
presence in spiritual light, or by the exercise of his Divine 



INTO THE LTGBT. 211 

Omnipotence assuming a material investment from the ele- 
ments of matter in the ropm, and thus becoming visible 
and tangible to the bodily senses of his assembled fol- 
lowers. " Destroy this body," says He, " and in three days 
I will raise it again." "I have power to lay it down, and 
I have power to take it again." In either case we have a 
view that is in all respects agreeable to the testimony of 
the Gospels, and which does no violence to any of our 
perceptions. 

Another circumstance which becomes easy of comprehen- 
sion when it is understood that the Lord's Resurrection or 
Glorious Body w T as Divine, and endued with Omnipres- 
ence, is that of his apparent journey with the two disci- 
ples to Emmaus; and this again proves that the risen 
Lord must have possessed these Divine attributes. For 
He was visible, it appears, to these disciples on their jour- 
ney, and yet appeared to the Apostle Peter at Jerusalem 
at the same time! The Evangelist Luke informs us that 
two disciples, who were acquainted with all that had taken 
place at the sepulchre, and at Jerusalem in the morning of 
his Resurrection, went the same day to Emmaus, and that 
as they went Jesus Himself drew nigh, and went with 
them ; and when they had arrived at the village whither 
they were going, He discovered Himself to them, and im- 
mediately afterwards vanished out of their sight, becom- 
ing invisible to them, as the original expressly says, no 
doubt by the closing of their spiritual sight, which had 
been previously opened. They instantly returned, with 
all speed, to Jerusalem, to relate what they had wit- 
nessed ; " where they found the eleven gathered together, 
and them that were with them," who said, " The Lord is 
risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon." Thus, this 
appearance to Simon then took place after the two disci- 
ples had left Jerusalem, and before their return. Thus it 



212 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

seems Jesus was seen by Simon at Jerusalem at the very 
time that He was in company with the travelers to Em- 
maus, a circumstance which evidently shows that his body 
was no longer material, but Divine, and possessed of the 
attributes of Omnipresence and Omnipotence. How sub- 
lime, how magnificent is this view, which accounts for all 
these manifestations, by attributing to the Lord's Risen 
Person, or Glorious Body, the attribute of Omnipotence 
and the other attributes of Divinity! The whole transac- 
tions are thus seen to include nothing low, trifling, or de- 
rogatory to the now Divine Character of the Risen Lord ; 
but, on the contrary, all inspire conceptions of perfect holi- 
ness, dignity, and majesty, and fill the mind with the pro- 
found and reverential feelings which properly belong to a 
subject so heavenly and Divine. 

While our thoughts are filled w T ith such grand concep- 
tions of the Omnipresence and other exclusively Divine 
attributes of the Risen Jesus, we must never lose sight of 
the momentous fact on which the salvation of the human 
family then, and our individual salvation at the present 
time, was, and is, entirely dependent, — that is to say, the 
glorification of the human nature, or manhood, assumed. 
Jesus Christ did not lay down, or divest Himself of, the 
assumed Human nature or manhood, but only of the frail- 
ties and propensities peculiar to its fallen condition. These 
imperfections were all through trials and temptations over- 
come and removed by the process of redemption He 
effected while in the world. Though He rose again in all re- 
spects a God, yea, the only God, besides whom there is 
no Saviour, his glorified Human having thus become the 
proper Personal Form of the Father, or Essential Divin- 
ity, and in full union or oneness therewith, yet He rose 
again also a Man, but a Divine Man complete. He put 
away all the infirmities and propensities which He had 



INTO THE LIGHT. 213 

by his birth of a human mother, and gradually put forth 
into the assumed human nature as it became redeemed a 
Divine Human, from the Father who dwelt in Him, which 
is properly the Son of God, in the ultimate principles of 
human nature. All the residue of the infirmities of the 
assumed Human of Jesus Christ was, indeed, rejected by 
his life, death, and burial, and dissipated in the sepul- 
chre ; but all the fullness of the Divine Human was put 
forth into the very ultimates of the human assumed at his 
Resurrection. We must never lose the conviction, there- 
fore, that in the glorified and Risen Jesus is the full and 
perfect union of the Divine and Human natures ; that in 
Him, as the apostle says, " dwelleth all the fullness of the 
Godhead bodily ;" that in Him God is Man, and Man is 
God. It is better, in our estimation, even to worship an 
idol, than to lose the idea of the One only true God in the 
11 Glorious Body" of the Risen Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. 

But we must hasten to a conclusion. Instructed by 
the testimony of Divine Revelation, let 7 us learn to adore 
the Risen and glorified Jesus as the " True God and Eter- 
nal Life.' 7 Let us learn to rise from earthly, low, and 
carnal ideas concerning Him to a sense of his infinite 
greatness. We must rise in our sentiments if we would 
obtain any just conceptions of his Divine character. Let 
us remember, too, what it is that is risen. It is not his 
Essential Divine Nature, for this could never cease to 
be the Supreme, the Most High. What is risen is the 
Human Nature, or Manhood exalted by the process of 
Redemption to perfect Oneness with the Inmost Divinity. 
Let us ever think of the Lord Jesus Christ, as to his 
Glorified Human Nature, as " God over all, blessed for 
evermore." Let us love and obey Him as such, and then, 
as He declares, " because He liveth, we shall live also." 

19 



214 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

In the language of the apostle, " He will change our vile 
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious 
Body, in which are hid the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge." This He will accomplish according to the 
mighty working whereby He is able to subdue all things 
unto Himself. This is only another mode of stating the 
great truth, that by the Omnipotence which belongs to 
Him in his glorified Manhood, as the possessor of "all 
power in heaven and on earth," if we are faithful and obe- 
dient, He will re-create us into his own image and likeness. 
The Lord grant that this may be the experience of us all. 
Amen. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 215 



DISCOURSE XIV. 

ON THE PASSION OF THE CROSS, OR SALVATION BY THE 
BLOOD OF CHRIST. 

Colossians i. 19., 20. 

In our remarks on the popular doctrines of orthodoxy, 
we are not actuated by any want of Christian charity 
towards the advocates of the religious opinions of the 
day, nor by a blind bigotry in support of our own peculiar 
doctrines : our leading purpose is to be instrumental in 
rescuing the Bible from "all false doctrines," irrespective 
of their popularity ; and to the utmost of our ability to 
make manifest the purity of its truths, the practical, en- 
lightening, and sanctifying tendency of its morals, and 
the necessity of conforming to its precepts in order to our 
attaining to a participation of its gracious promises. We 
trust, therefore, that none of our hearers will take offense 
at the freedom of our exposure of traditionary opinions, 
nor at the fervency and zeal with which we plead the 
cause of truth, — the cause of what we believe to be Bible- 
Christianity. 

Salvation by the Passion of the Cross, or by the Blood 
of Christ, stands out in bold relief, as the most prominent 
and deeply interesting doctrine in the whole circle of what 
is called Evangelical Theology. Modern preachers have 
exhausted their utmost oratorical skill in describing the 
doctrine in the most fascinating and intensely exciting 



216 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

terms. The imaginations of their auditors have been 
wrought upon and inflated, and their feelings excited to 
the very highest pitch ; and yet what has been the solid, 
the moral, and abiding result? Where are we now to 
look for such a view of the effects of this popular doctrine 
as at once to satisfy the demands of the intellect and the 
heart ? The time has come when imaginative descriptions 
must give way to calm investigation and cogent reasons. 
In times past it used to appear as a most satisfying state- 
ment to present in strong contrast the dreadful suffering 
and the exalted character of the sufferer. A suffering and 
a dying God was regarded as an object of the deepest 
interest, and" the contemplation of the event appeared to 
awaken the most delightful feelings and the noblest senti- 
ments of devotion. The imagination was filled, the feel- 
ings were powerfully excited, and the mind, under this 
popular notion of Salvation by the Passion of the Cross 
and Blood of Christ, was soothed and satisfied. But minds 
of another cast are now succeeding to these. The human 
intellect has awakened as from a long and a deep sleep 
on religious doctrines, and men now feel themselves called 
upon to exercise their understandings, " to try all things 
and hold fast only to that which is good." No doctrine 
is more strenuously insisted on by modern professors of 
nearly all religious denominations than this, " Salvation 
by the Passion of the Cross, or the Blood of Christ." 
They unanimously contend that it is solely by virtue of 
the blood, or of the sufferings and death, of Jesus Christ, 
that salvation is at all attainable. They maintain that by 
no other means could the wrath of God the Father be 
appeased, seeing that He had condemned all mankind to 
eternal misery. They thus represent one God as having 
died to appease the wrath of another God, — a doctrine 
which is an obvious violation of the Divine Unity; a 



IN TO THE LIGHT. 21? 

doctrine which represents the Father as a God of wrath 
and vengeance, and which assigns to Him passions and 
attributes the very opposite of love and goodness. When 
preachers and writers speak of the Passion and Blood of 
Jesus Christ, they always mean by the expression his 
physical sufferings and death. We admit that the suffer- 
ings and death of Jesus Christ were indispensably neces- 
sary to man's salvation ; but they were so necessary not 
to appease the wrath of the Father as a separate Divine 
Person, but to complete the glorification of the Lord's 
assumed human nature, that is, to accomplish its entire, 
assimilation to the Essential Divine Spirit, without which 
the influences of the Holy Spirit requisite to convey the 
gifts of salvation to us could not have been imparted to 
mankind. For the true doctrine of Salvation by the 
Blood of Christ is in perfect harmony with that of the 
Indivisible Unity of the Divine Being, and of the com- 
plete Oneness of the Lord Jesus Christ in his glorified 
manhood with the Eternal Jehovah, ^nd with the at- 
tributes of Infinite Love and Wisdom, as constituting the 
Essential character of the object of our Christian worship 
and adoration. The passages of Scripture in which the 
whole of man's salvation is ascribed to the blood of the 
Lord Jesus Christ are far from being so numerous as a per- 
son would suppose from the manner in which the subject is 
so often treated in our modern pulpits. Many religious per- 
sons and preachers have the phrases, " The Passion of the 
Cross," " TheBlood of Christ, or " The Blood of the Lamb," 
perpetually on their lips, and a stranger to the Bible would 
suppose from such a use of it that one or other of these 
phrases must occur in every verse, or at least in every 
chapter, of the New Testament. This, however, is far 
from being the case, and all the doctrines of the Christian 
religion, truly understood, might be fully expressed were 

19* 



218 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

it not used at all. When the Lord Himself in the Gospels 
spoke of his blood, it was always in connection with his 
flesh. Thus, when He declared to the Jews, " Except ye 
eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye 
have no life in you." So in the institution of the Holy 
Supper, " Take, eat; this is my body : drink ye all of it; 
this is my blood." In fact, He never speaks of the one 
without the other; but, then, when He does speak of his 
blood, his language is properly to be understood in a 
purely spiritual manner and light. We may here be 
allowed to remark that the genuine meaning of the " Pas- 
sion of the Cross/' or the " Blood of Christ," is the temp- 
tation-sufferings of our Saviour ; sufferings which his 
true disciples must also experience by crucifying the lusts 
and life of evil when assaulted by temptation, in order that 
in their degree they may become like Him, and by which 
spiritual crucifixion their minds and all therein will be 
purified, and so they will be made pure, " even as He is 
pure." Such, briefly, is the rational, practical, and edify- 
ing construction of these Scripture phrases, as resulting 
from the great first principle that the sufferings of Jesus 
Christ were pacificatory, or peaceful, not penal and vicari- 
ous ; because many of the popular errors of doctrine origi- 
nate in the erroneous principle assumed by the commonly 
styled Evangelical churches, that the Lord's sufferings and 
passion of the cross were penal, and were suffered for the 
human race in his person as their voluntary substitute. 
The question now, then, is, Were these sufferings of our 
Lord penal, or not ? Were they of the character or nature 
of a punishment? or were they in their object like those 
human sufferings concerning which it is said that " God 
chasteneth us that we might be partakers of his holiness; 
because chastening yieldeth afterwards the peaceful fruit 
of righteousness unto them who are exercised thereby"? 



INTO THE LIGHT. 219 

Modern teachers affirm that the sufferings of the Re- 
deemer were penal, and their public instruction, founded 
on this assumption, is generally so ingeniously contrived 
as to withhold from us the information contained in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews, that Jesus Christ " learned obedi- 
ence by the things which He suffered, 7 ' and that He was 
" made perfect through suffering." 

So far, indeed, from drawing any doctrine from these 
plain and important declarations, the principles usually 
set forth assert quite the contrary: they assert that Jesus 
had no moral virtue to attain, and nothing of good to learn, 
because, as they say, He possessed from birth all fullness ; 
that He had no perfection to acquire, for He was perfect 
and immaculate, and free from every imperfect propensity, 
even from his birth ; and that it was on account of his 
possessing this exalted character on the mother's as well 
as on the father's side, that his vicarious sufferings and 
punishment were of such an infinite worth as to outweigh 
all that imperfect man, in the persons of the whole human 
family, could possibly suffer. It is in vain that Jesus Him- 
self has declared that his assumed human nature required 
sanctification ; He plainly says, " For their sakes I sanctify 
myself" But the preachers of the Passion of the Cross 
and Sanctification by the Blood of Christ affirm, in contra- 
diction to Him, that Jesus was already holy, and free from 
all evil tendencies, and that, being already sanctified, He 
could not require to be sanctified ; and then they proceed, 
on their own authority, to declare that the word sancti- 
fied, when applied to the Lord, does not mean the same 
as when it is immediately after applied to his followers ; 
that as applied to Him, it means, merely, " set apart ;" but 
what set apart means they do not pretend to show. It is 
a mystery ! 

The view of the doctrine we repudiate does away or 



220 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

nullifies the apostolic testimony as to the immediate effect 
of our Lord's sufferings — that is to say, the effect on his 
own assumed human nature, or manhood ; and it misstates 
the ultimate effect and bearing of those sufferings upon 
mankind. Now, these two perfectly distinct effects are 
carefully distinguished in the writings of the apostles, 
and also by Jesus Himself. The first effect Jesus sets 
forth in his saying, " For their sakes [or benefit] I sanc- 
tify myself;' 7 and the second or ultimate effect He refers 
to in what follows, where He adds, "that they also may 
be sanctified through the truth." So, also, the apostle 
testifies that Jesus entered by his sufferings into the holy 
place or state, as the immediate effect of those temptation- 
sufferings ; and that, having thus obtained eternal redemp- 
tion for us from the captivity of sin and hell, He had made 
provision for the cleansing of our consciences from dead 
works by his Spirit as the ultimate effect of those suf- 
ferings. Again, he shows that Jesus having consecrated 
his assumed human by his passion on the cross, as a new 
and living way of access for us into the holy place or 
state, into which He had previously entered, we may, with 
the assurance of faith, enter into that state by his blood, 
suffering, or Divine Truth as the procuring cause, since 
all Gospel blessings come to us by his Spirit, which flows 
to mankind from his glorified and sanctified human since 
his resurrection and ascension. It was thus that He suf- 
fered being tempted, in order to perfect the human assumed 
through the virgin, to the end that afterwards He might 
help us when we are tempted, and so perfect and sanctify 
us in his own image, renewing us in righteousness and 
true holiness by his Spirit. 

But there is a more exalted sense belonging to the 
blood of Christ. Whenever spoken of by the Lord Him- 
self in the Gospels, it means not the blood shed on the 



INTO THE LIGHT. 221 

Cross, but the communications of his Holy Spirit pro- 
ceeding from his Glorified Human or Manhood, to convey 
spiritual life and salvation by this new and living way to 
mankind. 

It is commonly supposed that the Lord's flesh and blood 
in the Holy Supper, which He gives to be representatively 
eaten and drunk under the types of bread and wine, are 
given merely to express his death, and as memorials of the 
Passion of the Cross ; but if our hearers will, at their 
leisure, read over Christ's long discourse with the Jews 
upon the subject, as recorded in the sixth chapter of John's 
Gospel, they will be satisfied, we are persuaded, that flesh 
and blood, as there used, have reference to what is spirit- 
ual, communicated by Him, and received by those of man- 
kind who believe in Him and obey his truth. Flesh and 
blood will be seen by every devout reader to be the sym- 
bols of his Infinite Love and Divine Wisdom. Every 
difficulty will vanish when we are once aware that Jesus 
Christ was continually in the practice of couching his 
Divine and spiritual meaning in terms borrowed from the 
objects of outward nature ; not, however, in an arbitrary 
manner, but agreeably to a certain fixed law of analogy, 
established from the beginning, between the objects of 
the world of matter and those of the world of mind, or 
between the existences of the natural and those of the 
spiritual world : these are so formed that there is no 
spiritual existence which has not its proper emblem in the 
world of nature. Whenever, therefore, the Lord speaks 
of his flesh and blood, He refers to the two essential prin- 
ciples which constitute his Divine Frame, — as flesh and 
blood constitute the frame of man ; and these, as we have 
already said, are his Infinite Love and his Divine Wis- 
dom, — they are his Goodness and his Truth. Nothing 
else enters into the pure Essential Deity. Nothing else 



222 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

can constitute the interior essence of the human soul, par- 
ticularly if it be renewed, and prepared to receive and 
enjoy God, or to eat and drink worthily of his Holy Sup- 
per. Hence it is, when the Lord speaks of his Jlesh and 
blood, that He speaks of them as being the proper food of 
human souls : " Except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, 
ye have no life in you," — that is, ye have no spiritual, no 
heavenly life, — nothing that can qualify your souls to live 
in heaven. That the Lord did not mean the flesh and 
blood of his natural body is evident from his answer to 
the murmuring and carnal Jews and his short-sighted 
disciples. The former said, " Can this man give us his 
flesh to eat ?" And the latter, " This is a hard saying : 
who can bear it?" But He immediately explained Him- 
self, by adding, " It is the spirit that quickeneth [or giveth 
life] ; the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak 
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." When Jesus 
said that the natural flesh profiteth nothing, He, as a 
matter of course, meant the same in regard to natural 
blood. He therefore directs us to look for the spiritual sig- 
nification of his words. 

This, then, is also the most proper signification of " the 
blood of the Lamb," " Thou art worthy to take the 
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, 
and hast redeemed [or purchased] us to God by thy blood, 
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." 
By the blood of the Lamb, by which man is redeemed or 
purchased and saved, is meant the Divine Truth, flowing 
from the Lord's Glorified Spirit, and offered for the quick- 
ening of man and the renewal of his heart to spiritual life. 
When this Spirit is received by us, we believe his Word, 
— we attain to a ri^rht understanding of it, — we allow it 
to purify our hearts, and we make it the director of our 
lives. It is a pure gift of the Lord's Divine bounty, and, 



INTO THE LIGHT. 223 

when accepted by us, we are bound, we are purchased by 
it, to his service. Had He not assumed our nature and 
laid down his life for us, this reception of the truth and 
life of his Word must forever have remained beyond our 
reach ; but these being presented to us through the glori- 
fication of his Human or Manhood and unition with the 
Essential Divine, to which the Passion on the Cross was 
an indispensable preliminary, presented in a form and 
manner which we can apprehend, we may now "put forth 
our hand unto the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.' 7 
The tree of life is the Lord Himself, and its fruits are the 
spiritual graces of charity and faith of which He is the 
Author ; and these, in the accommodated form of the flesh 
and blood of Jesus Christ, of bread and wine, or the 
Divine Goodness and Truth proceeding from Him, are 
offered to the acceptance of the whole human family. 
Whatever the variety of man's state, character, color, or 
attainments, the graces of salvation are made free to all. 

And now, beloved friends in the Lord, permit us, by 
way of improvement, to inquire whether the view of sal- 
vation by the Blood of Christ which has been presented 
to you this morning is not a rational, and, what is of yet 
more importance, a Scriptural disclosure of the sub. 
ject. We are persuaded you will hereafter lay aside 
preconceived notions and search the Scriptures with 
candor, prayerfulness, and sincerity of heart. Where, 
we would ask the professing world, do you find one word 
in the Bible respecting one Divine Person dying, in the 
most inexpressible tortures, to appease the wrath of 
another Divine Person, that would consent to be recon- 
ciled on no other conditions ? We are, indeed, quite 
astonished how such a persuasion ever entered the human 
imagination. Dark and gloomy, and destitute of all light 
of intelligence^, of all benevolence, veneration, sympathy, 



224 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

and love, must that mind have been which first conceived 
so monstrous a supposition, — a supposition which sets up 
not only two Divine Persons of such contradictory na- 
tures, but which assigns to the first of these Persons 
a nature totally opposite to that which must peculiarly 
and essentially belong to the great and gracious Father 
of the Universe. And what is most strange is that the 
originator of this notion should have fancied that he found 
it in the Bible, in which, nevertheless, not a trace of it is 
to be found. The doctrine of salvation by the blood of 
Christ, rightly understood, is, as we have shown, a doc- 
trine of the Bible ; but will any one, for the sake of main- 
taining this popular doctrine, adhere to this preposterous 
notion, when the real Scriptural doctrine of salvation by 
the blood of Jesus Christ requires no such melancholy 
inconsistencies to explain and uphold it? Jesus Christ 
did indeed suffer for us, — for our good, because otherwise 
we must have perished eternally ; and He did thereby 
effect salvation for all who are willing to do his will ; but 
He did not undergo this suffering as a punishment in- 
flicted upon Him by another Divine Person as a commuta- 
tion for our eternal punishment, but, as we have seen, 
because his assumed Human, or Manhood, could not 
otherwise be glorified ; and without this glorification He 
could not have given us his flesh to eat, or hls'blood to 
drink; nor could He have imparted by his Holy Spirit, for 
the nourishment of our souls, the blessed communications 
of his eternal love and wisdom, — his infinite mercy and 
grace, — His Living Bread and New Wine. And since 
He is our Redeemer and Saviour, k< The true God and 
eternal life," and has become the Author of " eternal salva- 
tion to all that obey Him," let us henceforward love and 
worship Him as " God over all, blessed forever." Amen. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 225 



DISCOURSE XV. 

ON FAITH. 
Habakkuk ii. 4. 

The term faith comprehends a most essential and im- 
portant branch of Christian Theology. It includes what- 
ever is a matter of belief on the part of a convert to the 
doctrines of the Gospel. The principles* of the Word of 
God are the only proper constituents of a Christian's 
faith; for all that which may, for a time, be produced by 
mere appearances, representations, and false reasonings, 
can only be accounted as a counterfeit faith, — a vain per- 
suasion, or an illusion, that will most undoubtedly fail to 
be effective of any saving good when the truths of Divine 
Revelation are brought to light. These truths plainly 
teach that genuine and saving faith is that which leads the 
believer's mind to look to the glorified Jesus Christ as the 
Lord God, — the world's Redeemer and Saviour. We 
scarcely need attempt to prove to this congregation that 
Jesus Christ is the only proper object of a true and saving 
faith, after what has been advanced by us on various occa- 
sions in regard to this interesting subject. As there is, 
and can be, but One God, and as Jesus Christ is declared 
to be ll God over all, blessed forever," therefore Bible- 
Christians maintain He is that One only God. To say 
that Jesus Christ is God, and not exclusively the Only God, 
would evidently be to admit that there are more Gods than 

20 



226 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

One ; and this would not only be contrary to the Bible tes- 
timony, but it would require a divided faith, — a faith in 
several Gods. Such a faith, instead of blessing, would 
distract the mind. The principles of faith in regard to 
Jesus Christ are that in Him Divinity and Humanity are 
united, — that He is God and Man in one and the same 
Being, consequently in one and the same Divine Person; 
for we cannot conceive that any one Being can be divided 
into two or three real and distinct persons. It ought fur- 
ther to be observed that, although Divinity and Humanity 
in Jesus Christ are distinctly the objects of our regard and 
faith, they possess not two opposite, nor even different, 
natures. Divinity itself is really human, and Humanity 
in its primary essence is really Divine. Whenever we 
speak of the Divinity of the Lord's Humanity, it is essen- 
tially important that we entertain clear ideas of what con- 
stitutes humanity, — human nature or manhood. In speak- 
ing of the glorified Humanity, human nature, or manhood 
of Jesus Christ, we never have any reference whatever to 
the material body, — the body that was crucified on the 
cross, and pierced by the spear of a Roman soldier. Tha^ 
quality or characteristic by which we are distinguished as 
finite human beings, is the fact of our being by creation in 
possession of a Will and an Understanding ; and the per- 
fection of these mental qualities consists in our willing 
what is good, and understanding what is true, so that the 
more good we will and love, and the more truth we under- 
stand and obey, the more truly are we human, and the more 
completely are we distinguished as human beings from the 
rest of the animal creation. If, therefore, it be good and 
truth, willed and understood, which make us human, then 
are these two the essential human principles ; and in this 
point of view, to speak of a Divine or Glorified Humanity t 
human nature, or Manhood, is to speak of Divine Good 



INTO THE LIGHT. 221 

and Divine Truth. Hence, to consider our blessed Lord's 
human as finite would be to consider his goodness and 
truth as finite ; and as his goodness and truth are revealed 
only in his sacred Word, it would be to consider his Word 
as finite, — that is to say, as possessing only a ereaturely 
wisdom. As therefore the action or operation of the Di- 
vine Good and Truth into man, as a recipient form of life, 
produces, through the instrumentality of that form, the 
whole of human good and truth, and constitutes their very 
essence, from which they are truly finite human beings, 
it follows that God, as to his Divine Good and Truth, is 
as truly Infinitely Human, though always manifested, or 
brought forth to man's view, under a finited appearance. 
So that the two natures — Divine and Human — are not, in 
fact, two different natures, but one and the same in the 
glorified Lord Jesus Christ. The reason of the distinc- 
tion which we seem to make in them is not on account of 
any actual difference, but because the Divinity, though in- 
finite as to everything affirmed of it, can yet only he finitely 
apprehended by mankind. And as the glorified Human 
of Jesus Christ — the Son of God — is the Divine Human or 
Manhood of Jehovah, therefore in Jesus Christ the Divine 
as Human presents Himself to us in the manner best suited 
to inspire ereaturely faith. " No man has seen God [pure 
Divinity] at any time; the only begotten Son [or Glorified 
Human] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has brought 
Him forth to view." Thus the Father, or essential Divine 
Spirit, is in the glorified Human, and the Human in the 
Divine, in One Divine Person. " I and the Father are 
One." Moreover, a saving faith implies a deliverance 
from every false principle which would ruin the human 
understanding, and from every vicious disposition which 
would destroy the integrity and innocence of the human 
will ; therefore a right apprehension of the Divine Being, 



228 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

and a true faith in Him, are most essential requisites to 
our salvation. 

That faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as " God manifest 
in the flesh,' 7 is obviously enjoined in the Gospel, will be 
seen by a reference to his own words, " He that believeth 
on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not 
on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth 
on him." If the Son were not God, the want of faith in 
Him would not be attended with the loss of everlasting 
life ; and, as no one can " enter into the kingdom of God 
except he be born again," therefore faith in Him must be 
effective of that important change in the human character 
which is implied in being born again ; and as that change 
is confessedly from natural- to spiritual-mindedness, there- 
fore " the wrath of God" is said to rest on those who " do 
not believe on the Son," — on those who have not under- 
gone this change. Man's unregenerate nature is in oppo- 
sition to the Divine Will, and he therefore feels the Divine 
Influence, which in itself is infinite and unchangeable 
Love, as wrath upon his unconverted soul. This is what 
is really meant, in the Scriptures, by the anger and the 
wrath of God. No such passions belong to Him. It is 
the recipient's unchanged heart that gives in all cases this 
appearance of wrath in God to the beholder. The glori- 
fied Jesus, in the character of his Manhood, is the Divine 
Truth, in its universal principle ; and therefore it is writ- 
ten, " Whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but 
have everlasting life." " Jesus said, I am the resurrection 
and the life : he that believeth on me shall never die." No 
finite man could, with truth, style himself " the resurrec- 
tion and the life," nor by his own power preserve from 
spiritual death all those that believe on Him. To have 
faith on Jesus as the Saviour, is to rely on Him for sal- 
vation. To believe on Him as the truth, is to look to Him 



INTO THE LIGHT. 229 

for internal illumination and instruction. To believe that 
without Him we can do nothing truly good, is to rely on 
Him for the ability to do whatever He may enjoin us to 
do ; and to believe that He has all power in heaven and 
in earth, — that He knoweth all thiugs, — that by Him were 
all things made that are made, — that He will always be 
present with his followers in the regenerate life, — and that 
even " in the midst of two or three met together in his 
name, He will also be found," — implies a confidence in Him, 
— a reliance on his gracious promises as the Omnipotent, 
Omniscient, and Omnipresent " God over all, blessed for- 
ever." 

The apostles, after the resurrection of Jesus, went forth 
into the world to teach faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
" in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead," as 
the only way of salvation ; and that from Him, and by 
belief in Him, all that is constituent of heavenly life is to 
be obtained. In his name they performed various mira- 
cles, and on every occasion directed their hearers to the 
most full and perfect confidence in Him as the only One 
possessing the power, wisdom, and goodness, to save man- 
kind from the dominion and slavery of sinful desires and 
of idolatrous and heathen notions. Paul says, " Never- 
theless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the 
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in Him." 
This language of Paul would be exceedingly ridiculous if 
Jesus, in his all-glorious Manhood, were not God, from 
whom the all of life is derived, and by whose almighty 
power we are continually enabled to will, understand, 
think, and act, as finite human beings. Again, " Paul 
testified to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance 
towards God, and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." Re- 
pentance towards God implies the turning from all known 
evil as sin against Him ; and Faith in our Lord Jesus 

20* 



230 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

Christ denotes faith in his Divine Hitman, or essential 
principles of Manhood, as the only medium of salvation. 
And again, the same apostle says, "We who are Jews by 
nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a 
man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the 
Faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed on Jesus 
Christ." From this passage it will be evident to our 
hearers what the apostle meant by justification through 
the Faith of Jesus, in opposition to justification by the mere 
outward keeping of the ceremonial law of Moses. Not 
that the ceremonial law, when seen in its spiritual charac- 
ter, was opposed to the spirit of Jesus and the Gospel, for 
they are perfectly one in this respect. But the Jews of 
that age had little or no idea of the spirituality of the law 
of Moses, or of the internal righteousness it required, 
and consequently they kept it only after an external or 
outward manner. 

From what has been advanced, then, it will be seen that 
a saving Faith is one that is directed to Jesus Christ, the 
Lord God and Saviour, as to a visible God, in whom 
dwelleth the invisible, — a God manifested, as Paul says, 
in " his glorious Body," or Manhood, — as beheld and de- 
scribed by John in the first chapter of Revelation, — a God 
who can be at once the object of the most sincere love, and 
of the clearest and most certain intelligence of the human 
understanding; a Faith that removes all that vagueness 
of thought with regard to God, which must necessarily 
exist while the Divine Being is supposed to be an incom- 
prehensible something, diffused throughout the Universe 
like some ethereal principle, to whom we can no more 
rationally ascribe the attributes and properties of a Divine 
Mind, than we can suppose the electric fluid to will, think, 
and voluntarily to act. We cannot think of a principle 
without its appropriate subject ; we are not able to think, 



INTO THE LIGHT. 231 

as the Episcopalians would have us, of a God " without 
body, parts, or passions," neither can we, with the Athe- 
nians of old, worship " an unknown God," with any saving 
effect. Every affection and thought must have an object, 
mentally tangible and spiritually visible. In every concep- 
tion of love we have an idea of a being that loves, and in 
every thought of wisdom we have an idea of a being who 
thinks and is intellectually wise ; but of love and wisdom, 
as mere floating, aerial particles or abstractions, we have 
no idea, nor indeed can we have, because, as such, they 
do not exist. God, therefore, in presenting Himself to 
human thought and affection in the Human form, ren- 
ders Himself to his people both mentally tangible and 
spiritually visible, — a God whom they can love, worship, 
and adore. 

Peter, in his official character as an apostle, represented 
Faith in the Lord God the Saviour ; and ivhen he con- 
fessed that Jesus ivas the Christ, the Son of the Living 
God, he was called a rock, and to him, as the emblem of 
that faith, were given the keys by which to open heaven, 
and it was added, that whatsoever he or it should bind on 
earth should be bound in heaven, and whatsoever he or it 
should loose on earth should be loosed in heaven. Peter's 
acknowledgment of the Lord in his Divine Human or Man- 
hood is "the rock," — the foundation of all that is true in 
doctrine and good in practice. It is the rock on which the 
Church is built, — the hand into which are delivered "the 
keys of the kingdom." A key is the symbol of power. 
" The keys of the kingdom" are given, not to Peter as an 
individual, but to spiiHtual Faith, for such a Faith is the 
power by which heaven is opened in and to the human 
soul. Laying aside, then, the idea of Peter as & person, 
except so far as he represents principles, and keeping in 
view the power of Faith from love, the meaning of "the 



232 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

binding and loosing" will be clear and satisfactory to our 
hearers. Faith, when it works by love, accomplishes a 
great work, and whatsoever it binds and looses on earth 
is bound and loosed in heaven. Bat what and ivhere are 
the earth and heaven in which this binding and loosing 
take place? In thinking of earth and heaven we must 
lift our minds above the ideas of time and space There 
is a heaven and there is an earth in the mind of every 
one of us. The Lord said to those around Him, " The 
kingdom of heaven is within you." There is a region of 
the mind which is receptive of heavenly truth, and where 
the Lord's voice is heard, instructing, correcting, or re- 
proving. The apostle describes the conflicting action of 
the two regions of the mind in those who have entered 
the regenerate life, which he calls "the spirit warring 
against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit," the two 
being contrary the one to the other. These two regions 
of the human mind — the higher and the lower, or internal 
and external — are in the Bible compared to heaven and 
earth. When the regenerating Christian prays, " Thy will 
be done on earth as it is in heaven," he prays that the 
earthly within him may be brought under the dominion 
and guidance of the heavenly, — that the empire of Divine 
good, set up in the higher, or the heavenly region, may 
descend, and be established in the lower region, or in the 
earthly. Every part of the Word relates to personal re- 
generation. The two ruling principles of the lower men- 
tal region, or natural mind, are the love of self and the 
love of the world. These stand opposed to the two heav- 
enly principles which ought to rule in and over every one, 
— we speak of the love of the Lord, and the love of our 
neighbor. These are, in fact, the very principles of heaven, 
everything in heaven being constituted of them. But, un- 
less we bind or subdue the motions and propensities of our 



INTO THE LIGHT. 233 

earthly region of mind, the principles of heaven which we 
may feel in our higher or spiritual region of mind cannot 
come down and rule and exercise dominion in the earthly 
region, or external mind. But when we do bind or sub- 
due the motions and propensities of our earthly region of 
mind, the things of heaven are loosed, and descend to 
earth. The natural becomes filled with the spiritual. The 
thoughts, affections, and life are in harmony with the prin- 
ciples of a saving Faith. Heaven descends to earth, and 
God's tabernacle is with man. These become the fixed 
principles of life. Thus these principles are said to be 
bound on earth, and also in heaven, because what we re- 
ceive into our hearts and lives remains with us forever, 
and forms our heaven after death, for heaven has its very 
basis in regeneration. But when any one intellectually 
perceives truth, but does not love it, nor do it, it is not 
bound on earth, and it is not bound in heaven, for such a 
man. Thus we may see that whatever power was €on- 
ferred on Peter was not confined to him exclusively or 
personally. It is a power offered to all who believe and 
ask for it in a proper manner and in a true and Christian 
Faith. Faith is a clear and intellectual perception of the 
truths of the Bible. This gives the mind a settled confi- 
dence in the total fulfillment of the Lord's promises, and a 
dependence on Him for all things. Faith without the life 
of love and charity is a dead faith, — a mere blind per- 
suasion of the region of the carnal mind, — a faith which 
prompts the unregenerate rudely to ask of God those 
heavenly enjoyments for which their souls have neither 
appetite nor taste. But to believe even the greatest truths 
without a life corresponding with such a faith is of no 
avail. " Thou believest," says the Apostle James, "that 
there is one God ; thou doest well : the devils also be- 
lieve and tremble." But if this belief had been all that 



234 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

was requisite for salvation, then had these devils never 
been devils. It is most important that every one should 
form just ideas of faith ; and to enable us all to do so 
the Lord has put into our hands his revealed Word, and 
has accompanied it with this injunction, " Search the 
Scriptures; in them ye think ye have eternal life, and 
they are they which testify of me." One great cause of 
the diversity of belief, and of erroneous faith, is neglect 
of obedience to this plain injunction. Instead of searching 
the Scriptures for themselves, men have in many cases 
taken for granted what others have said, and have thus 
forfeited their own mental freedom ; but freedom of will is 
that which renders us accountable before God, and this 
freedom, consequently, cannot be relinquished without 
criminality. If we would learn from the volume of In- 
spiration in what true and saving faith consists, we have 
only to be guided by the Saviour's injunction, and search 
the Scriptures. There we shall find it recorded, " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy 
mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. This do, and thou 
shalt live." What can be plainer than this? This is the 
Bible's description of true and saving faith. It is an epit- 
ome of the whole Word of God, for on it " hangs all the 
law and the prophets."* Love, then, may be said to be 
the very life and soul of faith. Without this principle of 
heavenly Love there could be no living and true faith. 
The Lord has given us unnumbered proofs of his love to 
us, — the greatest of which, if one may be said to be greater 

* Love is the fulfilling of the Law. u He that loveth not, 
knoweth not God ; for God is love. 11 Christianity is love embodied 
in its purest form. The Gospel is a revelation of love. And love 
can be comprehended only by love. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 235 

than another, is that of his manifestation in the flesh, — his 
assumption of human nature, — that He might thereby ap- 
proach to our low state or region of mind, and thus enable 
us to draw near unto Him, and, by the truths of his Holy 
Word and Spirit operating on our wills and understand- 
ings, " purify us unto Himself as a peculiar people, zeal- 
ous of good works." To Him, then, "the only wise God, 
our Saviour, the author and finisher of our Faith "be glory 
and dominion, now and for evermore. Amen. 



236 OUT OF THE CLOUDS, 



DISCOURSE XVI. 

SERMON DELIVERED ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF 
ORDINATION, AUGUST 1 lTH, 1861. 

Mark xvi. 15. 

One of the great ends intended by the manifestation of 
Jesus Christ in the flesh was, that mankind might be more 
particularly instructed in the things which make for their 
peace, — -that they might be brought from mental darkness 
to intellectual light, from ignorance to the knowledge of 
those principles which, illuminating their understandings, 
influencing their wills, and giving a character to their 
lives, might prepare them to become participators of the 
felicities of the kingdom of heaven. More effectually to 
accomplish this Divine purpose, John the Baptist, as the 
forerunner of the Lord, came preaching the doctrine of 
repentance for the remission of sins, as a preparatory 
measure to man's being benefited by the coming of Christ. 
Before that event angels also came, and preached or pro- 
claimed to the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem, 
"good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." 
Jesus Christ Himself when on earth devoted a large por- 
tion of his time to preaching. 

He spake as never man spoke, and his sermons, as em- 
bodied in the Gospels, have excited the admiration of men 
and women of refined and pious minds in all ages of the 
Church. He selected or appointed twelve disciples, and 



INTO THE LIGHT. 23 1 

ordained them to preach. And after his resurrection He 
reimposed the mission of preaching on them, as an all-im- 
portant part of their future vocation : " Go ye into all the 
world," said He, " and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
Hence it is obviously the gracious will of our blessed Lord 
that the truths of Redemption and Salvation, as well as 
the other great doctrines of Divine Revelation, should be 
proclaimed to mankind everywhere. Previous to this 
commission to the disciples, the means of attaining to a 
knowledge of the true God had been in a great measure 
confined to the Jews. They alone were in possession of 
the oracles of God. The labors of Jesus Christ Himself 
were principally confined, externally at least, to the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel ; and his disciples were pre- 
viously prohibited from preaching among the Gentiles. 
But now the time was fully come when the Gentiles were 
to be favored with the preaching of the Gospel ; when 
the partition-wall which had separated Israel from all the 
world should be broken down, and all former distinctions 
forever cease, that in Jesus Christ there should be neither 
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barba- 
rian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ and the prin- 
ciples of Christianity preached to all people — to every 
creature throughout the world. The disciples accordingly 
went forth, preaching the doctrines of Christianity wherever 
suitable opportunities presented themselves, and fulfilling 
that department of their mission not only in Judea, but 
more particularly among the Gentiles throughout the then 
known world. From the days of the apostles, men have 
been ordained and introduced into the ministry by the 
imposition of hands, and have thus assumed, under the 
authority of the Church, the duties and responsibilities of 
preachers of the truths of salvation. By such means the 
.will of the Lord has been carried out more or less per- 

21 



238 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

fectly, and mankind have been called to repentance and 
eternal life through their labors in preaching the doctrines 
of the Word of God. 

It is fifty years this day since I was ordained into the 
ministry of the Word of God by the customary imposition 
of the hands of the appointed minister. It is no ordinary 
privilege to be admitted to a participation in this great 
and glorious work of the Lord our God, and, as it were, to 
be laid under the necessity of cultivating an intimacy with 
the great principles of the religion of the Bible. Paul 
magnified his ministry ; and well he might, for the won- 
drous scenes inseparable from the labors of the ministerial 
office most fully put in requisition all man's intellectual 
and moral powers. For about a year previous to ordina- 
tion I had preached to a small congregation, and at their 
request I consented to be presented as a person suitable 
to be admitted into the ministerial office. I remember the 
scene of my inauguration well. Of those who were present 
at the ceremony, there is but one person now living be- 
sides myself. That individual is Brother Wright; he was 
one of my hearers then, and has been so from that day to 
this. All others who were witnesses when I bowed my 
knees before the glorified Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
as the true God and eternal life, have passed by death 
from this transitory state of being. A Bible was presented 
for my acceptance, and a solemn charge given, and I re- 
ceived the great trust and authority from the Lord — by 
the laying on of the hands of the minister — to teach and 
to preach the Word, to administer the ordinances of Bap- 
tism and the Holy Supper, and to perform all the other 
duties incumbent upon a minister of the Gospel. To me 
it was a solemn day, and it was associated with solemn 
responsibilities. Since that day, it may be said, two gen- 
erations have passed away. Not one of those to whom I 



INTO THE LIGHT. 239 

first preached in England, where my ordination took place, 
is now living, with the exception already stated; and of 
twenty-eight adult individuals who came to this country 
with me forty-four years ago, there are only two remain- 
ing besides myself. Truly is it written, " One generation 
goeth, and another cometh, but the earth remaineth for- 
ever." I cannot be too thankful that amidst all these 
changes I have been mercifully preserved, and that I com- 
menced my ministry under a deep impression that I must 
be a minister of incessant watchfulness and care for the 
welfare of those intrusted by Providence to my teaching. 
My mind, even at the outset, was never dazzled either by 
the prospect of popularity or repose ; for thirty-eight years 
I preached without receiving any pecuniary emolument 
by way of compensation. This part of my proceeding I 
would not advise any one hereafter to follow. Ministers 
cannot live merely on air. Jesus has assured us we can- 
not faithfully serve two masters,— do our duty as preachers, 
and be engaged in worldly pursuits, — and He has instructed 
us that " the laborer is worthy of his hire." In everything 
but this, if I am not deceived, my work has been my joy, 
and most my joy when most laborious. I did not enter 
into the ministry for its wealth, or I might have been dif- 
ferently circumstanced in that respect. I did not enter it 
as a secular calling, but because I wished to be useful to 
others in matters of the highest moment for their ever- 
lasting interests. Until within the last four years, my 
sermons, as a general thing, have been extemporaneous. 
Since then, I have written and delivered two sermons a 
week, with but a very few exceptions. If I know myself, 
my aim has always been devoutly to fulfill the ministry I 
have received in the Divine providence of the Lord Jesus. 
I am not unaware of my imperfections as a teacher, espe- 
cially in regard to oratorical abilities. I know also and 



240 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

keenly feel the want of popularity which the practical 
doctrines I have taught have mostly met with at the 
hands of the men of the world, and even among the great 
body of professors of religion. But I have done the best 
I could, conscientiously and sincerely, for the cause of 
true religion. That the primitive apostles of Jesus Christ 
enjoyed many and peculiar privileges during the time in 
which they were on earth, as the chosen disciples, the de- 
voted friends, and daily companions of their Lord, no one 
who believes in the truths of the Bible will be disposed to 
deny. They had the inexpressible happiness of hearing 
his public discourses, and of listening to his private in- 
structions; they saw his mighty miracles, they heard his 
beautiful parables, his sublime sermons, and they beheld 
his meekness and lowliness of heart. The doctrines and 
spirit of the Christian dispensation they were taught 
by precept and example ; and whenever they understood 
not the nature of his doctrines, as delivered before the 
people, He cheerfully explained to them in private and 
caused them clearly to understand; and these highly 
favored men, in the fullness of their gratitude and admira- 
tion, exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh 
away the sin of the world." In the ardency of their affec- 
tion they declared, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God." Nor need we wonder at this : they had been 
called to take a part in a new dispensation, — a dispensation 
of universal benevolence and heaven-born charity. They 
had been taught the glorious truths of the Gospel, and 
had been ordained as the first preachers of a faith that 
went to bring salvation fully before their minds; and they 
understood and believed, — they obeyed, and lived accord- 
ing to the doctrines thev- had espoused and the charity 
they had imbibed. Such were the faithful among the 
primitive disciples of our blessed Lord; such a few of 



INTO THE LIGHT. 241 

their privileges, their enjoyments, their co-operation, and 
their happiness. In after-periods of the Church those 
entering the ministry have not had any of these external 
privileges ; but jet there is reason to believe that wherever 
there is sincerity and devotedness of heart, the laborers in 
the Lord's vineyard are not left comfortless. He is in- 
wardly present, and by the aid and influences of his Spirit, 
which in all ages of the world are sent forth, He is at all 
times ready to enlighten, to encourage, and sustain them 
in their arduous undertaking. Hence the pulpit at all 
times has had an important influence on the morals of 
society. The peculiarity of the doctrines I have taught 
has been one cause of the smallness of the congregation 
that usually attends in this house. A life and practice in 
accordance with the knowledge of the truths of Revelation 
have invariably been enjoined as indispensably necessary 
to man's happiness ; not the hearers of the word, but the 
doers of the word, are they who find acceptance with the 
Lord of heaven and earth. "If ye know these things," 
saith the Lord, " happy are ye if ye do them." Religion 
has been represented as that which is to be shed into 
actual and daily life; and this practical requirement has 
apparently retarded the outward growth of the Church. 
Mankind, as a general principle, are not only ■" slow of 
heart to believe all that the prophets have said," but 
equally tardy in " laying the axe to the root of the tree," 
and bringing forth in their lives the fruits of righteous- 
ness and true holiness. 

From a prayerful exercise of those intellectual and moral 
faculties with which the Creator has graciously endowed 
all men, I have seen and taught through the Sacred Scrip- 
tures during the last fifty years that there is but one living 
and true God, — the Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour of the 
world, — one in essence, one in person, — and that the glori- 

21* 



242 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

fied Jesus Christ is u God over all, blessed forever." The 
apostle says, " God was in Christ reconciling the world 
to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them," nor, as 
some preachers would have us suppose, reconciling an angry 
and unforgiving God to sinful, fallen man. He also adds, 
" All things are of God, who has reconciled US to Him- 
self in Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of 
reconciliation, and has committed unto us the word of 
reconciliation." " Hear, Israel, the Lord thy God is one 
Lord." And says Paul, "In Jesus Christ dwelleth all 
the fullness of the Godhead bodily." It therefore inevi- 
tably follows that if " all the fullness of the Godhead, or 
Deity, dwells in Him bodily," there can be but one person 
of the Godhead. Let it not be imagined that with this idea 
of one person in the Godhead I must not have believed in 
the Trinity. So far from this being the case, I have at 
all times preached that, while the Scriptures are explicit 
on the Unity of the Divine Being, they proclaim with 
equal clearness to the understanding of men the doctrine 
of a Divine Trinity, as the great characteristic of the Chris- 
tian Religion. After the resurrection, Jesus Christ com- 
manded his disciples not only "to preach the Gospel to 
every creature," but to " baptize all nations in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." 
In speaking on this doctrine I have not understood or 
represented the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as 
meaning three separate and distinct persons, but rather as 
expressive of a threefold combination of spirit concen- 
trated in the glorified Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
As to his Essential Divine Spirit, He is called, in the fig- 
urative language of the Bible, the Father ; as to the Divine 
Human Spirit, or Son of Man, He is called the Son; and 
as to his Divine sphere,— power of operation or energy by 
which He redeems and regenerates mankind, — He is called 



INTO THE LIGHT. 243 

the Holy Spirit. The Essential Divine Spirit and the 
glorified manhood of Christ are one in the all-glorious 
person of Jesus Christ, comparatively ; as in this life the 
soul and body of finite man are one in every individual of the 
human race, agreeing precisely with the celebrated Atha- 
nasian Creed, " As the reasonable soul and flesh are one 
man, so God and man, or Father and Son, are one Christ ;" 
and that the Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the 
Son, being the emanated energy or power of operation on 
all human minds, to enlighten, to sanctify, and to save, is 
also clearly the doctrine of the Bible, particularly from the 
circumstance that Jesus Christ, previous to his ascension, 
" breathed on his disciples, and said, Receive ye the Holy 
Spirit." 

Another doctrine I have felt in duty bound to preach 
for the instruction of my hearers, is^that of Redemption by 
Jesus Christ. If it be true that there is only one Divine 
Being upon the throne of heaven, and if there is in reality 
no such feeling as anger or wrath, nor a principle of vin- 
dictive justice, in the bosom of the God of the Bible, it is 
esteemed impossible that the popular teaching, which as- 
cribes to our merciful and heavenly Father such unworthy 
passions and so odious a principle, can have its foundation 
in the Sacred Scriptures, when they are correctly under- 
stood. Redemption consisted in the assumption of human 
nature, and its actual recovery, deliverance, and ransom 
from the dominion of the powers of darkness by the Om- 
nipotent hand of Jehovah Himself, manifest in the flesh. 
The Bible teaches most clearly that w T hen mankind had 
fallen from the state of integrity in w r hich they were while 
dwelling in the Garden of Eden, if they were to be saved, 
it became necessary that means should be provided for 
that end. But their restoration could only be effected by 
a Divine power. He who was the Creator of man could 



244 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

alone become his Redeemer and Saviour, and therefore, in 
the fullness of time, in his love for falleu man, and in his 
unbounded mercy, He condescended to assume the nature 
of man, with all its propensities and proclivities to evil, — 
to take upon Himself that very nature which needed to be 
redeemed, and in and through this assumed human nature 
or manhood, He progressively wrought out deliverance and 
Redemption for his people, — a Redemption and restoration 
which no other being in heaven or on earth was capable of 
effecting. The whole prophetic testimony concurs in teach- 
ing that it was Jehovah Himself who came into the world, 
in the person of Jesus Christ, to accomplish the work of 
Redemption. This He effected by subduing the powers 
of darkness, and thus opening up a new way for the sal- 
vation of the human family. " Thus saith Jehovah, the 
King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts, I am 
the First, and I am the Last, and beside me there is no 
God." Yet our blessed Lord in the Gospel declares that 
this work was accomplished by Himself, for He says to 
his disciples, " Now is the judgment of this world ; now 
shall the prince of this world be cast out.' 7 " The Prince 
of this world is judged.' 7 " Be of good cheer, I have over- 
come the world." In these and other similar expressions, 
by the world, and the Prince of this world, are implied the 
whole Powers of Darkness or hell ; and by the victory ob- 
tained over them is denoted the great work of Redemption 
and glorification of his Humanity, which opened the way, 
and led to the deliverance, restoration, security, and final 
salvation of the faithful of his people in all periods of the 
Church. From the time I first entered on the duties of 
the ministry I have taught that the Bible is a revelation 
of the will of God to mankind. I have advocated its Divine 
authenticity, its spirituality, and its plenary Inspiration. 
But time will not permit me to go into an exposition of 



INTO THE LIGHT. 245 

the all-varied and important doctrines of the Christian 
system I have preached for the past fifty years. Besides 
what has been already adverted to, I have preached the 
doctrines of Repentance and the Remission of Sins : of 
man's Free Will in things regarding his highest, his 
spiritual interests, as well as in the temporal things of his 
outward or natural life. I have not failed to teach the 
At-one-ment, and the doctrine of the Resurrection from the 
dead : a resurrection not of the natural and corruptible 
body deposited in the grave, but of what the apostle calls 
the spiritual body. " There is," he says, " a natural body, 
and there is a spiritual body." At death " a natural body 
is sown," or committed to the silent grave, never to be re- 
assumed, " and a spiritual body is raised," — raised, and 
thenceforward it becomes an inhabitant of the spiritual 
world. I have maintained that there is a Divine Provi- 
dence, or a government of the Lord's infinite Love and 
Wisdom, which has for its end the salvation of mankind 
and the formation of a heaven out of the human family ; 
and that in all its operations this providence has respect 
to what is spiritual and eternal. Its laws are twofold, — 
those of appointment, and those of permission. The doc- 
trines also of Baptism, The Holy Supper, Charity, Faith, 
and Good Works, — in brief, I have preached all the doc- 
trines of the various Christian denominations, though I 
have associated and taught very different ideas — respect- 
ing many of them — from those of other religious persua- 
sions. On all subjects, and on all occasions, however, I 
have endeavored to preach the truths of the Christian 
Church, and to present the Sabbath as a day of worship 
and of religious instruction ; and in this preaching I have 
gone three times through the Bible, speaking from every 
chapter in regular rotation. One thing more : I concur 
with the Apostle Paul, that "It is good neither to eat 



246 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

flesh, nor to drink wine ;" "to be temperate in all things," 
— to strive to subdue the carnal mind, the selfish propen- 
sities, and what he calls "the deeds of the body." These 
sentiments I have preached, and have practiced accord- 
ingly, for the last fifty-two years. I have represented 
them as moral and religious duties. 

But I must conclude. The half-century is gone, — gone 
like the word just spoken, for good or for evil, never to 
be recalled, — gone as yesterday has gone. Yet why do 
I say they are gone ? Nothing is gone, whose influence 
remains with man or woman. The Sabbaths, the prayers, 
the praises, the weeks, the months, the whole half- 
century, that seem to us to have passed away, live 
still, — live in the presence and universe of our heavenly 
Father. Such have been the religious principles I have 
taught for more than fifty years. They lay, according 
to my apprehension, a foundation for purer Christian 
attainments and a more intellectual form of godliness. 
They are calculated — if adopted into practical life — to 
renew and to regenerate man's whole nature. Practical 
religion, with love to God and charity to man, will sweeten 
all the hours, the years, and the scenes of human life. The 
esteem of our friends in such case will be sincere; our 
children will be found traveling with us heavenward by 
our side. We also shall continue to grow in grace and in 
spiritual kuowledge. The Church will be nurtured, and 
multiply in numbers. Cheerfulness and gratitude to God 
will crown our worship ; a conscious sense of a Christian 
spirit, and of progress in the regenerate life, will strengthen 
our good purposes, and the fruits of love, scattered along 
our pathway, will be to our souls vital and evident proofs 
that the Lord our God is ever with us. To Him — " The 
true God and Eternal Life" — be glory, uow and forever. 
Amen. 



INTO TEE LIGHT. 247 



DISCOURSE XYII. 

THE JUBILEE — BEING A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE BIBLE- 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH — JUNE 12th, 1859. 

Isaiah lxi. 1, 2, 3. 

From the earliest periods of the history of the Church, 
maukind seem to have deemed certain events and occur- 
rences in the world worthy of a particular commemora- 
tion ; and that the custom has received the Divine appro- 
bation is particularly indicated in the institution of the 
Passover, — a festival that was to be observed through all 
the generations of the people of Israel, in commemoration 
of their deliverance from the oppressions and bondage of 
the Egyptians. We do not, indeed, meet with any record 
of such commemorations having been celebrated during the 
antediluvian, or Adamic Dispensation, unless we receive 
the narrative of the offerings of Cain and Abel as tokens 
of their having received certain blessings from the Lord, 
their Creator, which they felt called on to acknowledge 
and commemorate by those acts of religious devotion. 
They are the first intimation of acts of Divine worship 
that are recorded. And what are external acts of wor- 
ship but mere ceremonies, to bring to our remembrance 
our obligations to the Lord for his goodness towards us, 
unless indeed they be accompanied and sanctified by the 
adoration of our hearts? In the Church of which Noah 
was "a preacher of righteousness,' 7 his salvation from the 



248 . OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

deluge, and his coming forth from the ark of his safety, 
were events which he and his family commemorated by 
building an altar, and presenting thereon an offering unto 
the Lord. This is represented as having been acceptable, 
and to have been responded to by the gracious announce- 
ment from the Lord, that " while the earth remaineth, 
seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer 
and winter, and day and night, shall not cease." After 
the patriarch Abram had been called, and had left the 
land of his nativity, and had passed into Canaan, the 
Lord appeared to him, and said, " To thee and to thy 
posterity will I give this land ;" and Abram commemorated 
this manifestation by there building an altar unto the Lord. 
The cause of his posterity going down into Egypt is re- 
corded as having been the result of a famine in Canaan ; 
and their being subsequently led up out of that land by 
the hand of Moses, when the pursuing Egyptians were 
thrown into the Red Sea, was commemorated by the song 
of Moses, sung by him and the congregated sons of Israel, 
and responsively answered by Miriam and the whole camp 
of Israelitish women. The events of their subsequent his- 
tory were mostly celebrated in a way intended to keep their 
occurrence in the memory of the people. Under the Chris- 
tian dispensation we have a record of the manner in which 
the heavenly host, and the Magi, or wise men of the East, 
celebrated the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and we 
all know his birth is still annually commemorated through- 
out Christendom at the season called Christmas. In the 
after-ages of the Church, numerous circumstances have 
taken place from time to time, which have called forth the 
gratitude of true believers in Christianity, and induced 
them to celebrate such events. Among other things of 
this nature is that of celebrating the commencement of 
various Churches by those who are members of their re- 



INTO THE LIGHT. 249 

spective bodies, intending by such means to hand down 
from generation to generation the knowledge of the origin 
of their denominations and the peculiarities of their faith. 
The members of the Bible- Christian Church participate 
in this feeling common to humanity, and accordingly we 
have come together this morning to worship the Lord in 
his holy sanctuary, and to commemorate devoutly the 
fiftieth year or the Jubilee of our existence as a distinct 
body of professing Christians. Fifty years ago, on the 
28th of June, 1809, a number of ministers and lay mem- 
bers met together for the first time as a distinct body, to 
worship the Lord according to their conviction of truth, 
and they publicly declared that they did not form a Secta- 
rian Church under any particular denomination from man ; 
that they simply professed and wished to be Bible-Chris- 
tians ; and that though worshiping and teaching religious 
principles, according to what the\ T conscientiously believed 
to be in accordance with the revealed Word of God, they 
felt in perfect union with the sincere livers in all the vari- 
ous denominations of Christians. 

We have selected this portion of the Scriptures because 
it contains an enumeration of many of the blessings which 
were to be enjoyed by the Israelites on the recurrence of 
the year of release, or Jubilee year. The particulars of 
that law, as given by Moses, will be found recorded in the 
xxv. chapter of Leviticus, 8-13 verse. 

In our text (Isaiah lxi. 1, 2, 3) we have a prophecy rel- 
ative to the coming of the Lord as the promised Messiah, 
describing his government and its blessings ; and we are 
officially informed that all the temporal benefits which the 
Israelites experienced as a people from being governed 
according to the principles of the Mosaic laws, would be 
spiritually enjoyed by every true believer under the Chris- 

22 



250 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

tian dispensation ; and that liberty of thought, freedom to 
worship God according to the dictates of conscience, and 
an unrestrained exercise of all the powers of the mind, 
should be proclaimed unto all lands, and to all the inhab- 
itants thereof, as blessings and privileges secured unto 
them by the glad tidings of the everlasting Gospel. It 
appears, from the laws given to the Israelitish Church, 
that the return of every seventh day was to be observed 
as a Sabbath, or day of rest ; that every seventh year was 
to be commemorated as a year of release ; and that every 
seven times seven, or fiftieth year, was to be celebrated as 
a National Jubilee, in which year the Jubilee trumpets 
were to be sounded, a general release was to take place, — 
a restoration of inheritance was to be made, and the op- 
pressed, and those that were in bonds, were to go out 
free. No person can deliberately take into consideration 
the nature and tendency of these Bible institutions, even 
when viewed only as legal regulations, and venture to 
deny either their wisdom, their justice, their benevolence, 
or the goodness of Jehovah, from whom they were given. 
The observance of One day in seven, or the Sabbath, was, 
in fact, an institution not made for the people of Israel 
only, nor for any particular age or nation, but it was in- 
stituted for mankind. It is a day in seven intended to 
promote man's progress in the heavenly life. 

The Sabbatic year was to be observed in the manner 
specified in the law. There were four peculiarities con- 
nected with it. The first was thus expressed, " Thou 
shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard." The 
second peculiarity was in relation to the gracious promise 
of Jehovah given to the Israelites, that on condition of 
their obedience to his Commandments He would so be- 
stow his blessings upon them that in the sixth year the 
land should bring forth fruit sufficient for three years. 



INTO THE LIGHT. 251 

The third peculiarity in regard to tbe Sabbatic year re- 
lated to the relinquishment of debts or claims on the 
estates of others ; and tne fourth provided for the public 
reading of the law at the feast of tabernacles in each Sab- 
batic year, or year of release. In addition to these there 
were three other peculiarities which related exclusively to 
the Jubilee vear. The first of these was, that the Jubilee 
was to be proclaimed throughout the whole land by the 
sounding of trumpets. The second observance was, that 
the Jubilee should be a year of general release of persons 
and property; all who were in slavery or bondage were 
in that year to go free ; even those who in the Sabbatical 
year had voluntarily relinquished their privilege of going 
out free, and had had their ears bored in token of this, 
were all to be set free in the Jubilee year, because then 
they were to ^proclaim liberty throughout all the land to 
all the inhabitants thereof. The third peculiarity relating 
to the Jubilee year was, that in it all estates which had 
been sold at any time within the preceding forty-nine 
years, were to be returned to their former proprietors, or 
to the families to which they had originally belonged. By 
this arrangement it was graciously provided that no family 
throughout all the tribes of Israel should -ever be finally 
deprived of their family inheritance or homestead, — made 
wretched and ruined, and doomed to perpetual poverty, — 
for such was the benevolent provision that no estate or in- 
heritance could be alienated or sold for a longer period than 
the next coming Jubilee year. The nearer, therefore, the year 
of Jubilee was, the less was the value of the purchase of 
an estate, the worth being always regulated by the number 
of years between the time of purchase and the expiration 
of the term. Now, all these regulations, and especially 
those relative to the Jubilee, considered only in a political^ 
or social point of view, were particularly favorable to 



252 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

human happiness, and to the advancement of Israelitish 
society in civilization, freedom, and independence; and 
when contemplated as the manifested will of God it must 
be seen how entirely they were calculated to promote their 
progress in religion, in righteousness, and true holiness. 
In every aspect, indeed, the Jubilee was a remarkable 
feature in the Israelitish government. Its requirements 
were wisely adapted to prevent the more wealthy from 
becoming the oppressors of the poorer portion of the theoc- 
racy, and from holding any individual in perpetual slavery. 
They also prevented the rich from getting permanent pos- 
session of all the lands of other families, either by way of 
purchase or of grasping usurpation. Neither could pecu- 
niary debts be unduly multiplied under the Jubilee princi- 
ples of government. Its laws were well adapted to preserve 
personal liberty, equality of property, the regular order of 
family inheritances, freedom, religion, and independence 
among the people of Israel. But it is our duty, my be- 
loved friends, not only to look at these regulations as they 
applied externally and politically to the government of 
Israel, but to observe wherein they are intended for the 
spiritual instruction of all mankind : for the Bible is a 
religious Book, and its contents are to be religiously inter- 
preted. " All Scripture, " says an apostle, "is given for 
our instruction in righteousness." " God is a Spirit," and 
as the Word of God — the Bible — necessarily contains not 
merely details of historical facts, and national institutions, 
such as were literally adapted to the moral, social, and 
religious state of the people of Israel, who were emphat- 
ically a worldly and natural-minded people, but within its 
literal and historical statements, or under their cover, 
heavenly truths full of spirit and life, intended for the 
spiritual edification of the Church in all ages, will be 
found. Let us, then, on this occasion, cast ourselves 



INTO THE LIGHT. 253 

humbly at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ, " the only Wise 
God, our Saviour," fervently praying, that as " He opened 
the understandings" of his primitive disciples, in order 
that "they might understand the Scriptures," so He will 
this day open our minds, and enable us to see the adapt- 
ability of the Sabbatic and Jubilee laws of the Israelitish 
dispensation to the promotion of our spiritual and indi- 
vidual instruction, and to our progressive advancement in 
the life of Christian Regeneration. Then will the Word 
of the Lord be indeed " a lamp to our feet and a light to 
lead us in the paths" of righteousness, joy, and peace. 

At the time when these laws were revealed, the Israel- 
ites were a people who constituted the visible Church of 
God on earth. In this respect they w T ere not only the 
predecessors but the representatives of the Church under 
the Christian dispensation. The Sabbath, which they 
were commanded to remember and to keep holy, we 
have observed was not an exclusively Israelitish institu- 
tion ; its origin is traceable to the time of the creation of 
man, the Creator having thus early manifested his will in 
respect to its observance. Among the Israelites the Sab- 
bath was to be received as a day of sanctity and holiness. 
Six days of the week symbolically represented the labors 
and combats of the Lord Jesus Christ with the powers of 
darkness, in " destroying the works of the devil," while 
effecting man's redemption ; and the Sabbath typified his 
victory over them, and the rest, consequently, "remaining 
to the people of God." The Sabbath was the emblem of 
the accomplishment of the whole work of Redemption by 
the Lord, when He was manifested in the flesh, and was 
therefore to be received as a day of essential holiness. 
But under the Gospel dispensation the Sabbath is made a 
day of instruction in heavenly and Divine things, — a day 
of meditation on subjects concerning God, salvation, and 



254 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

eternal life, and a day of worship, adoration, thanksgiving, 
and praise. The terra, in the original tongue, means rest ; 
and it is expressive of the state of joy and peace which the 
regenerate man experiences in his confidence, or his rest 
in dependence on the Lord. It is, therefore, a day of the 
highest importance to the spiritual happiness of the whole 
family of man. But the Sabbatic and Jubilee years pecu- 
liarly pointed out a release from spiritual oppression, and 
typified the great and Divine work of the Redemption of 
mankind by our Lord Jesus Christ, and the renewal or 
regeneration of our whole nature. " Except a man be 
born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God." Through the reception of the truths 
of Divine revelation from the Lord, and by the influence of 
his Spirit, we are put in possession of a knowledge of the 
true principles of salvation. We are successively released 
from the power of our spiritual foes, and are brought, through 
repentance, reformation, and regeneration, to that heavenly 
rest and spiritual freedom of which the Sabbath and the 
Sabbatical year were the emblems. By the propensities of 
our fallen nature, and through improper habits, we are in 
mental bondage and spiritual slavery to sin. Through the 
knowledge of the truths of the Word of the Lord, and 
the sanctifying influences of his Spirit, we are delivered 
from this bondage, emancipated from this spiritual slavery, 
and brought into the enjoyment of "the liberty which be- 
longs to the children of God." Through our disobedience 
and many transgressions we have forfeited all rightful 
claim to a title to a possession in the heavenly Canaan ; 
but by his Word and Spirit, operating on our hearts and 
lives, we become born from above, — new creatures, — re- 
generated, — and heirs of the kingdom of heaven, for that 
kingdom is open to all true believers ; and with all such 
there is the experimental conviction that the Church and 



INTO THE LIGHT. 255 

the kingdom of heaven are really within their souls. 
After this progressive order, then, — released from our 
spiritual adversaries, — the foes of our own households, — 
restored to spiritual liberty, united in spirit with the heav- 
enly family, — angels, and the spirits of the just made per- 
fect, — reconciled and at-one with our heavenly Father, and, 
through being thus " transformed into the image and like- 
ness of the Lord," re-entitled to our inheritance in the 
heavenly Canaan, we may enjoy our Jubilee in the Church 
on earth, — urge on our way rejoicing; every day; by our 
conversation and example, proclaiming liberty throughout 
all the land to all the inhabitants thereof, and thus an- 
nouncing to all around the acceptable year of the Lord. 
Then, when, in the merciful providence of the Lord, we 
are removed from our earthly tabernacles, we shall enter 
into the Paradise of our Great Redeemer, and participate 
in the joys and rejoicings of an endless Jubilee in the ever- 
lasting kingdom of the Lord our God. We have nothing 
of the imposing rituals of the Israelitish Church by means 
of which to celebrate the Jubilee of the visible and out- 
ward existence of the Bible-Christian Church ; but we 
feel it to be a matter of, duty to God, and to our brethren 
in the religious world, to make acknowledgment of his 
goodness during the past fifty years in blessing the efforts 
of his servants, who have faithfully labored, according to 
their respective capacities, and in their relative spheres of 
life, in this new* department of their Lord's vineyard, and 
publicly to solicit a continuation of his goodness and loving 
kindness through the coming future. F 'or forty-two years 
we have been endeavoring to build up a Bible-Christian 
Church in the City of Brotherly Love. The result is 
known to many of our hearers: we have not rapidly in- 
creased in numbers, as have done many other denomina- 
tions around us, but there is a reason sufficiently powerful 



256 OUT OF THE CLOUDS: 

to be found in the required discipline of the Church to ac- 
count for the paucity of our numbers : abstinence from the 
flesh of animals as food, and a total abstinence from all 
kinds of intoxicating beverages, not simply on account of 
health, not merely as a physiological injunction, nor yet 
as a mere moral requirement, but as a religious duty. 

These principles of discipline are stumbling-blocks in 
the estimation of many, and prevent numbers from be- 
coming members of the Bible-Christian Church. We had 
not been more than two or three weeks resident in this city 
before we were told, if we would lay aside preaching our 
discipline, we could have a Church and congregation that 
would afford us a handsome living. How many have said 
to us at various times, " I would become a member of your 
Church but for the discipline in regard to eating and drink- 
ing" ! Most of our members have told the same tale. It 
is this peculiarity in our discipline which is the great stum- 
bling-stone and rock of offense to the many ; this that is 
the principal barrier to our numerical progress as a re- 
ligious community. But it will perhaps be said, If this 
be the doctrine of the Bible, why do not men see it? 
Why are they not convinced ? When our Lord was on 
earth preaching glad tidings to the meek, binding up the 
broken-hearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives, and 
announcing the acceptable year of the Lord, did He not 
complain of the slowness of men's hearts to believe all the 
truths that the prophets had told ? Need we wonder, then, 
if " He who spoke as never man spoke," and whose wis- 
dom silenced the cavils of the self-righteous Pharisees, 
found it needful to mention the slowness of men to be 
convinced of the truths He taught? Need we wonder 
that a like tardiness should still be manifested towards the 
espousal of the practical doctrines of our common Chris- 
tianity ? The fact is, men do not want to be convinced of 



INTO THE LIGHT. 25T 

any truths that require self -denial. " He that's convinced 
against his will is of the same opinion still." Notwith- 
standing these disciplinary obstacles, we have made some 
progress in numbers. We also own the building in 
which we are assembled, and the ground on which it 
stands, in fee-simple, and — what is more than many other 
churches, that make a more imposing appearance, can 
say — we are out of debt. Have we not cause, then, to re- 
joice, and to celebrate the first Jubilee of our existence as 
a Church with gratitude and praise? Every serious and 
considerate individual, after reading the Bible account of the 
Sabbatical and Jubilee years, as enjoined on the Israelites, 
should reflect and turn his thoughts immediately within 
himself, — should examine his own heart in the presence 
of the all-seeing God, and should try to ascertain how far 
he has mentally experienced any of those blessed effects 
of which the Sabbatical and Jubilee years of the Israelitish 
Church were the outward emblems. If he do this in faith- 
fulness, he will not be long in discovering that nothing 
can be more beautiful, elevating, and harmonious, nor tend 
more to the happiness of mankind, than that progressive 
influence of pure and spiritual religion on the human mind, 
arising from a life according to its principles. This will 
not fail to lead to the possession of that inward rest and 
mental enjoyment shadowed forth by the Jubilee of a 
former dispensation. 

Do we, then, beloved, wish to attain to the happy en- 
joyment of these gradual, but certain, renewals of our 
fallen and sinful natures ? — of those truthful principles 
and heavenly states of peace, — joy and rejoicing ? Let us 
lose no time in taking upon us the yoke of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and following Him in the regeneration. Let us 
ever live according to the principles of our faith, obey the 
teachings and adhere to the discipline of the Bible-Chris- 

23 



258 OUT OF THE CLOUDS. 

tian Church. And then the Spirit of the glorious Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ, the true God and eternal life, 
will assuredly be unto us a sun and a shield, will work in 
us to will and to do, according to his own Divine order, 
until at length we are, by his gracious and compassionate 
aid, entirely emancipated from the spiritual bondage of 
sin, and restored to the possession of a title for the attain- 
ment of a heavenly inheritance in the kingdom, and rejoice 
in the unending Jubilee of " Our Father in the heavens." 
Amen. 



THE END. 



LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 

OF 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO 

PHILADELPHIA. 



Will be sent by mail, pest paid, on receipt of the price. 



The Albert N'Tanza. Great Basin of the Nile, 

and Explorations of the Nile Sources. By Sir Samuel Whiti 
Baker, M. A., F. R. G. S., &c. With Maps and numerous Illus- 
trations, from sketches by Mr. Baker. New edition. Crown 8vo. 
Extra cloth, #3. 



" It is one of the most interesting and 
instructive books of travel ever issued ; 
and this edition, at a reduced price, will 
oring it within the reach of many who 
have not before seen it." — Bostonjournal. 



" One of the most fascinating, and cer- 
tainly not the least important, books of 
travel published during the century." 
Boston Eve. Transcript. 



The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, and the Sword- 

Hunters of the Hamran Arabs. By Sir Samuel White Baker, 
M. A., F. R. G. S., &c. With Maps and numerous Illustrations, 
from original sketches by the Author. New edition. Crown 
8vo. Extra cloth, $2.75. 



*' We have rarely met with a descriptive 
work so well conceived and so attractively 
written as Baker's Abyssinia, and we cor- 



dially recommend it to public patronage 
. . . It is beautifully illustrated "— iV. O 
Times. 



Eight liars' Wandering in Ceylon. By Sir 
Samuel White Baker, M. A., F. R. G. S., &c. With Illustra- 
tions. i6mo. Extra cloth, $1.50. 



" Mr. Baker's description of life in Cey- 
ion, of sport, of the cultivation of the soil, 
of its birds and beasts and insects and rep- 
tiles, of its wild forests and dense jungles, 
of its palm trees and its betel nuts and in- 
toxicating drugs, will be found very in- 
teresting. The book is well written and 
beautifully printed." — Bait. Gazette. 



" Notwithstanding the volume abounds 
with sporting accounts, the natural history 
of Ceylon is well and carefully described, 
and the curiosities of the famed island are 
not neglected. It is a valuable addition to 
the works on the East Indies." — Fhiia 
Lutheran Observer. 



PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT <Sr» CO. 

The American Beaver and his Works. By Lewis 

H. Morgan, author of "The League of the Iroquois." Hand- 
somely illustrated with twenty-three full-page Lithographs and 
numerous Wood-Cuts. One vol. 8vo. Tinted paper. Cloth 
extra, $5. 



" The book may be pronounced an ex- 
pansive and standard work on the Ameri- 
can beaver, and a valuable contribution to 
science." — N.Y. Herald. 

" The book is an octavo of three hun- 
dred and thirty pages, on very thick paper, 
handsomely bound and abundantly illus- 
trated with maps and diagrams. It is a com- 
plete scientific, practical, historical and des- 



criptive treatise on the subject of which it 
treats, and will form a standard for those 
who are seeking knowledge in this de- 
partment of animal life. ... By the pub- 
lication of this book, Messrs. J. B. Lip- 
pincott & Co., of Philadelphia, have really 
done a service to science which we trust 
will be well rewarded "—Boston Even. 
Traveler. 



The Autobiography of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. 

The first and only complete edition of Franklin's Memoirs. Printed 
from the original MS. With Notes and an Introduction. Edited 
by the Hon. John Bigelow, late Minister of the United States to 
France. With Portrait from a line Engraving on Steel. Large 
* i2mo. Toned paper. Fine cloth, beveled boards, $2.50. 



"The discovery of the original auto- 
graph of Benjamin Franklin's character- 
istic narrative of his own life was one of 
the fortunate events of Mr. Bigelow's dip- 
lomatic career. It has given him the op- 
portunity of producing a volume of rare 
bibliographical interest, and performing a 
valuable service to the cause of letters. 
He has engaged in his task with the en- 
thusiasm of an American scholar, and 



completed it in a manner highly credit- 
able to his judgment and industry." — The 
New York Tribtme. 

" Every one who has at heart the honor 
of the nation, the interests of Am Tican 
literature and the fame of Frankh. 1 will 
thank the author for so requisite a national 
service, and applaud the manner and 
method of its fulfillment." — Boston Even. 
Transcript 



The Dervishes. History of the Dervishes; or, 

Oriental Spiritualism. By John P. Brown, Interpreter of the 
American Legation at Constantinople. With twenty-four Illus- 
trations. One vol. crown 8vo. Tinted paper. Cloth, $3.50. 



" In this volume are the fruits of long 
years of study and investigation, with a 
great deal of personal observation. It 
treats, in an exhaustive manner, of the 
belief and principles of the Dervishes. 



. . . On the whole, this is a thoroughly 
original work, which cannot fail to be- 
come a book of reference." — The Philada. 
Press. 



New America. By Wm. Hef worth Dixon. Fourth 

edition. Crown 8vo. With Illustrations. Tinted paper. Extra 
cloth, $2.75. 



"In this graphic volume Mr. Dixon 
(ketches Americar/ en and women sharp- 



ly, vigorously and truthfully, under every 
aspect." — Dublin University Magazine 



PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

Cottage Piety Exemplified. By the author of 

" Union to Christ," " Love to God," etc. i6mo. Extra cloth. $1.25. 
"A very interesting sketch." — N. Y. Observer. 

Stories for Sundays, Illustrating the Catechism. 

By the author of " Little Henry and his Bearer." Revised anc* 
edited by A. Cleveland Coxe, Bishop of Western New York ; 
and author of "Thoughts on the Services," etc. i2mo. Illus- 
trated. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $1.75. Fine Edition. 
Printed within red lines. Extra cloth, gilt edges. $2.50. 

" The typography is attractive, and the 
stories illustrated by pictures which ren- 
der them yet more likely to interest the 
young people for wh >se religious im- 
provement they are designed." — N. Y. 
Evening Post. 



"We are glad to see this charming 
book in such a handsome dress. This 
was one of our few Sunday books when 
we were a school-boy. Sunday books are 
more plentiful now, but we doubt whether 
there is any improvement on Mrs. Sher- 
wood's sterling stories for the young." — 
Lutheran Observer. 



An Index to the Principal Works in Every De- 

partment of Religious Literature. Embracing nearly Seventy 
Thousand Citations, Alphabetically Arranged under Two Thou- 
sand Heads. By Howard Malcom, D. D., LL.D. Second 
Edition. With Addenda to 1870. 8vo. Extra cloth. $4. 



*' A work of immense labor, such as no 
one could prepare who had not the years 
allotted to the lifetime of man. We 
know of no work of the kind which can 
compare with it in value." — Portland 
Zion's A dvocate. 

" The value of such a book can hardly 
be overestimated. It is a noble contribu- 



tion to literature. It meets an urgen 
need, and long after Dr. Malcom shal 
have left the world many an earnest pen- 
worker will thank him, with heartfelt 
benedictions on his name, for help and 
service rendered." — Boston Watchman 
and Reflector. 



those who favor its deductions as by thos* 
who condemn them. 



The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, 

with Remarks on the Origin of Species by Variation. By Sir 
Charles Lyell, F.R.S., author of " Principles of Geology," etc. 
Illustrated by wood-cuts. Second American, from the latest London, 
Edition. 8vo. Extra cloth. $3. 

This work treats of one of the most in- 
Veresting scientific subjects of the day, and 
m\\ be examined with interest, as well by 

The Students Manual of Oriental History. A 

Manual of the Ancient History of the East, to the Commencement 

of the Median Wars. By Francois Lenormant, Sub-Librarian 

cf the Imperial Institute of France, and E. Chevallier, Member cf 

the Royal Asiatic Society, London. 2 vols. i2mo. Fine cloth. $5.50. 

"The best proof of the immense re- I Francois Lenormant's admirable Hand- 
suits accomplished in the various depart- j book of A?icient History."— London 
ments of philology is to be found in M. | Athencemn. 



PUBLICATIONS OF % B. LIPP1NC0TT &* CO. 



Preparation for Death. Translated from the 

Italian of Alphonso, Bishop of S. Agatha. By Rev. Orby Ship- 
ley, M. A. Square crown 8vo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth, red 
edges. $1.75. 



ly, in all hearts whose needs and tastes 
make welcome the precious ore outpoured 
for us through the long ages by those who 
have dug earnestly in the exhaustless mine 
of communion with God." — Charleston 
Courier. 



" But at the same time many of the 
pages of this book teem with rich spiritual 
matter, and many of the prayers may be 
well studied as models." — Presbyterian 
Batiner. 

" As to the contents, their merits have 
long since been settled, deeply and loving- 

Mizfah. Friends at Prayer. Containing a Prayer 

or Meditation for Each Day in the Year. By Lafayette C. 
Loomis. i2mo. Beautifully printed on superfine tinted paper, 
within red lines. Fine cloth. $2. Extra cloth, gilt edges. $2.50. 

ing. The meditations are well and piously 
written, and will, we doubt not, accom- 
plish great good." — The Lutheran Ob' 



" A beautifully printed volume with 
colored border. The plan of the work 
consists in 'an evening meditation' for 
each day of the year ; with appropriate 
Scripture references for morning and even- 



Blunfs Key to the Holy Bible. A Key to the 

Knowledge and Use of the Holy Bible. By J. H. Blunt, M. A., 
author of " Household Theology," etc. i6mo. Extra cloth. $1. 



" Is a compact history of Holy Scrip- 
ture, showing how, when and by whom 
it was written, with what purpose, what 
was its writers' inspiration, how it is to be 
interpreted, and what are the Apocrypha 
of the Old and New Testaments. There 



is an Appendix of peculiar Bible words, 
with their meanings, and a good Index. 
. . . On the whole, this is a singularly 
well-executed work, of great value in many 
respects."— = The Philada. Press. 



Pulfit Ger?ns. Plans for Sermons. By Rev. W. 

W. Wythe. i2mo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $1.50. 



"This book is intended as an aid to 
clergymen in the preparation of their ser- 
mons — not as a labor-saving apparatus for 
drones, but as an incentive to study. It 
Contains 455 texts, upon each of which the 
leading heads or skeletons of a discourse 



are supplied with occasional subdivisions 
under such heads. The utility of the work 
is obvious." — San Francisco Times. 

"The book is unquestionably the best 
and most unexceptionable of its kind we 
have met with." — The Prot. Churchman. 



Evidences of Natural and Revealed Theology, 

By Chas. E. Lord. 8vo. Toned paper. Extra cloth. $3.50. 

As a summary treatise upon nat- 



*' This volume bears the marks of care- 
ful study and clear thinking. . . . The 
book is a calm, serious and valuable con- 
tribution to the theologicp' literature of 
the age." — N. Y. Observer. 

" Dr. Lord is a calm, clear and careful 
writer, and this volume is a valuable con- 
tribution to theological literature. 



ural and revealed theology, or as a manual 
for use in schools and higher institutions 
of learning, this book has few, if any, su- 
periors. It will therefore be welcome to 
the general reader of religious works and 
useful to the cause of education." — N. Y. 
Times. 



The Christian Worker ; A Call to the Laity. By 

Rev. C. t. Beach. i6mo. Cloth. $j. 



PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT <5r* CO. 



Moral Reforms, Suggested in a Pastoral Letter, 

With remarks on Practical Religion. By Rt. Rev. A. Clevelane 
Coxe, Bishop of Western New York, and author of "Thoughts 
on the Services, etc. i2mo. Cloth. $i. 



" This volume will be universally wel- 
comed as a fuller and freer discussion of 
some of the more practical subjects of 
Christian life and duty, touched upon in 
he Bishop's Lenten Pastoral and that of 
the House of Bishops. . . . 



" The book must have a large circula- 
tion, for its style and matter will make any 
one who begins it read it through." — Utica 
Gospel Messenger. 



Heart Breathings; or, The SouVs Desire Ex- 

pressed in Earnestness. A Series of Prayers, Meditations and Se- 
lections for the " Home Circle." By S. P. Godwin. i8mo. Tinted 
paper. Fine cloth. 75 cents. 
A truly precious little volume, which 



will doubtless aid the devotions and cheer 



the way of many a Christian pilgrim." — 
Protestant Churchman. 



True Protestant Ritualism. Being a Review of 

a book entitled " The Law of Ritualism." By the Rev. Charles 
H. Hall, D. D., Rector of the Church of the Epiphany, Wash- 
ington, D. C. i6mo. Cloth. $1.50. 



"Dr. Hall has contributed one of the 
most comprehensive and comprehensible 
arguments upon the subject which has yet 
been written. It is well worth the care- 



ful perusal of all who are interested in thi» 
vexed question." — Philada. Even. Bul- 
letin. 



Divisions in the Society of Friends. By Thomas 

H. Speakman. i6mo. Fine cloth. 63 cents. 

" The essay under notice furnishes in a 1 tion of the Society into different organi- 
compact form the reasons for the separa- | zations." — Bait. Gazette. 



Life of Philip Doddridge, D. D. With Notices of 

some of his Contemporaries, and Specimens of his Style. By 
D. H. Harsha, M. A., author of " The Star of Bethlehem," etc, 
New Edition. i2mo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $1.50. 



" Doddridge is one of the purest and 
mos' elevated characters in English re- 
ligions literature. An American minis- 
ter, attracted by its excellence, made it a 
study, and reproduces it in the narrative 
here given. The work is fairly well exe- 



cuted, and the result is a valuable piece 
of Christian biography — a book the read- 
ing of which will give present pleasure 
and permanent spiritual advantage to any 
one who may be able to appreciate it." — 
N. Y. Christian A dvocate. 



The Threefold Grace of the Holy Trinity. By 

John H. Egar, B. D. i2mo. Toned paper. Extra cloth. $1.50. 



" It is, in our opinion, one of the ablest 
and most original contributions to Ameri- 
can scientific theology which have been 



made in our day, and we shall be disap- 
pointed if that is not the judgment of the 
best judges." — The Amer. Churchman 



PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 



Words in Season. A Manual of Instruction, 

Comfort and Devotion for Family Reading and Private Use. By 
Rev. Henry B. Browning, M. A. i6mo. Toned paper. Extra 
cloth. $i. 



" Words in Season is the title of a 
peautiful little volume of practical relig- 
ious counsels of instruction, comfort and 
devotion for family reading and private 
use. It appears to be truly evangelical, 
and t^ be calculated, in style and spirit, 
to do the good at which it aims." — Boston 
Congregationalist. 



" Words in Season, a thoughtful, 
sweet-toned manual for family reading and 
hours of devotion, prepared by an Eng- 
lish minister of the Established Church. 
Spiritual souls will read it with comfort 
and strengthening."— Chicago Advance. 

"A very good book." — N. Y. Liberal 
Christian. 



The Scriptural Doctrine of Hades. Comprising 

in Inquiry into the State of the Righteous and Wicked Dead be- 
tween Death and the General Judgment, and demonstrating from 
the Bible that the Atonement was neither made on the Cross nor 
yet in this World. By Rev. George Bartle, D. D., Principal of 
Walton College, Liverpool. i2mo. Cloth. $1.50. 

The New View of Hell. By B. F. Barrett. 1 2mo. 

Extra cloth. $1.25. 



" A really valuable contribution to the 

world's stock of religious ideas 

The book, taken as a whole, is of great 
interest." — New York Sun. 

" Contains much that is grotesque and 
visionary, with much that is profoundly 



true, and much that is exceedingly sug- 
gestive." — New York Independent. 

" There is not a Christian man or woman 
in the world who would not be benefited 
by the reading of this book." — Westfield 
News Letter. 



Our Children in Heaven. By William H. Hol- 

combe, M. D., author of " The Sexes," etc. i2mo. Tinted paper. 
Extra cloth. $1.75. 

Its sweet pathos and comforting sym 



pathy at once warm and interest us."- 
Albany Journal. 



" It is written in the most devout spirit, 
and will interest even those who reject its 
doctrines." — Buffalo Express. 



The Sexes: Here and Hereafter. By William 

II. Holcombe, M. D., author of "Our Children in Heaven," etc. 
i2mo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $1.50. 



" Whatever one may think of the doc- 
trines of this book, it would be impossi- 
ble to deny that it breathes a pure and 
elevated spirit, and has many thoughts 



which will commend themselves sympa- 
thetically to the followers of all Chris- 
tian faiths." — The Independent, N. Y. 



In Both Worlds. By Wm. H. Holcombe, M. D. t 

author of " Our Children in Heaven," " The Sexes : Here and 
Hereafter," etc., etc. i2mo. Tinted paper. Extra cloth. $1.75. 



" While likely to prove of the deepest 
and most thrilling interest to all whose 
minds are elevated above materiality and 



the grosser elements of nature, it is in 
no sense irreverent." — Boston Evening 
Travelet. 





■ I 




■ 






** ■% J ^3* 



■tifffi 



■ 

i" I #4 H 

i «'' *' 




< ■ 

■ 

H 






■ . ■ 



>■» 



■ 



M 












| Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procesi 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
2006 






I Treatment Date: April 

I Preservation 

A WORLD LEADER IN P 

■ ■ 

■ 'a ■ ■ e /* • <*:Jm 



Technologie: 

PAPER PRESERVATIO 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
<724) 779-21 11 






■ 



H 






UP? .*.'-*ar '# 

I c£ ■ .%V ■ 







Vk.tf* 






m 



**-; 




■ 



■ ■ 



fai 









l?f-a : 








003 259 343 4 






